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[1] Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Employment component of this year’s Index had Bangladesh (75.5) topping the list with over 75 women for every 100 men in the workforce. Sri Lanka (66.7), Nepal (59.2), India (43.6) and Pakistan (39.7) followed behind. Pakistan had the lowest scores across the Asia/Pacific region in terms of Leadership (3.5) with just over 3 women as business owners for every 100 men.
All five markets ranked well in the third component - Education - with a strong showing of scores across both Secondary and Tertiary sub-indicators. While progress is seen in the field of education, MasterCard’s research stresses the importance of ensuring women receive more access to job opportunities and leadership positions in business and government once they graduate.
Ari Sarker, Division President South Asia said, “It is well established that a country’s social and economic development is closely tied to factors including access to education, employment and political leadership opportunities. While South Asia has recently witnessed an increase in the attention and focus by both public and private sectors towards affirmative action for women, much remains to be done in the march towards gender equality.”
“As emerging economies in the region step up to establish their presence in the global economy, it is important that the barriers preventing women in these markets from seizing economic opportunities be eliminated,” he concluded.
