www.spireresearch.com

© 2014 Spire Research and Consulting Pte Ltd

MEDIA SYNOPSIS

Yomiuri News (1 December 2014); JChere News (1 December 2014); Yahoo

News Japan (2 December 2014)

Excite (2 December 2014); Livedoor (2 December 2014); Ameba News (2

December 2014)

Myanvi News (2 December 2014); Shokkagan Biz Lady (5 December 2014);

Antenna (5 December 2014)

Flexibility – the pathway to female

advancement in the workplace

In today’s world, many women wear two hats – as care-givers in the home

and as breadwinners in the workplace. Many professional women aspire to

develop their careers in the same way as men. Why then do so few women

hold the position of CEO in large organizations? Spire Research and

Consulting conducted a pro bono survey among women executives in

China, Malaysia and India to understand the aspirations of professional

women, the career impediments they face and what they feel should be

done to overcome them. Our findings were published in the Japanese media:

Yomiuri News, Yahoo News Japan, JChere News, Mynavi News, Shogakkan

Biz Lady, Antenna, Livedoor, Excite and Ameba.

The world is witnessing a dramatic social change that is still incomplete.

Today’s women are more likely to hold a paid job and enjoy more economic

freedom than women in previous generations. But this change has come with

a price – many working women feel torn between work and home.

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According to Spire’s survey of 300 female executives and managers in three

countries, approximately 90 per cent of women aspired to become

corporate leaders – the figure was 85 per cent in China, 90 per cent in

Malaysia and 98 per cent in India. But many survey respondents – 46 per cent

in China, 55 per cent in Malaysia and 44 per cent in India – said that inflexible

working hours prevented them from balancing work and family time. This was

followed by the absence of adequate child-care solutions. Another problem

was the inability of most companies to allow women to take a few years

break from work and return to the same position. All of these factors tended

to slow the progress of women towards the C-suite.

To solve these problems, most respondents suggested flexible working hours

with work-from-home options. Other suggestions were to increase the

availability of childcare at work, to create mentorship programs for women

leaders and to establish anonymous company hotlines to report

discrimination or harassment.

In addition, most women in India (51%) and a significant minority of women in

China (23%) felt that they had no role models of female corporate leaders to

look up to. This would damage the effectiveness and confidence of women

executives in the workplace vis-à-vis their male counterparts.

Corporate, governmental and non-governmental leaders should study these

findings in order to engineer better solutions to the problems that are holding

back half the workforce.

Click here for official coverage on Yomiuri’s, JChere’s, Yahoo News Japan’ s, Shogakkan Biz

Lady’s, Myanvi’s, Livedoor’s, Excite’s and Ameba’s Website.

About Spire Research and Consulting

Spire Research and Consulting is the leading research consultancy in global emerging

markets. Spire's competitive advantage lies in its ability to deliver actionable intelligence on

the external business environment in support of its clients’ strategic decision-making in

marketing and business development. Spire's clients include 50 Global Fortune 1000

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companies and government agencies in 15 countries. For more information, please visit

www.spireresearch.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Nidhi Singh

Senior Executive, Group Corporate Communications

Spire Research and Consulting

Phone: (91) 124 646 5499

E-mail: nidhi.singh@spireresearch.com