Women on Top

An increasing number of women are breaking the glass ceiling in China, especially in the private sector.

Twenty years after Hillary Clinton addressed the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing on women’s rights when she was First Lady of the United States, there is now evidence of women advancing in business life.

According to the 2015 Women in Business Survey by business advisers Grant Thornton, there are now more women in business leadership roles in China than many countries in the West. Nearly a third (32 percent) of business leadership positions in China are held by women, compared with 20 percent in the United States. China is, in fact, ahead of all major European economies, with Italy at 24 percent, France 23 percent, the United Kingdom 20 percent and Germany 16 percent.

China Daily published a cover story titled “Women on Top (Almost)” in its European Weekly supplement on 22 May 2015 featuring the phenomenon that more women are taking up business leadership roles in China. The article cites information from the research paper, titled “CEO Gender, Executive Compensation and Firm Performance in Chinese-listed Enterprises,” which was written by Paul B. McGuinness, Professor of Department of Finance; and Prof. Kevin Lam, Associate Professor of School of Accountancy, Director of Master of Accountancy Programme (Part-time) and Director of Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Accountancy Programme at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School, along with a coauthor.

Prof. McGuinness says in an interview with China Daily that he believes women have benefited greatly from the development of the private sector and a more market-oriented economy. He adds that “if you look at the figures for the period from 2000 to 2008, you see that female participation in private companies is rising quite significantly. On the other hand, in state-controlled firms it remains static at between 3 and 4 percent.” Prof. McGuinness also points out that “all the established evidence points to competition blunting discriminatory practice. What we see in China is the private sector and not the state pushing women into the higher echelons of management.”… Read More (PDF)

Click here to read an article featuring the research paper, “CEO Gender, Executive Compensation and Firm Performance in Chinese-listed Enterprises” on China Business Knowledge@CUHK.

Source: China Daily
Date published: 22 May, 2015

For details of Prof. McGuinness and Prof. Lam’s paper, please see the abstract below:

CEO Gender, Executive Compensation and Firm Performance in Chinese-listed EnterprisesThis study extends the international body of evidence on executive compensation by offering a novel account of the interaction of CEO gender with executive remuneration and firm performance in the Chinese market place. Examination of more than 10,000 firm-year observations, spanning the period 2000–2008, points to women making up around 4.4 percent of all CEOs in China’s listed issuers. More tellingly, female CEO participation is on the rise and is considerably more visible in firms with private control. This result is consistent with Becker’s (1957) proposition that competitive forces lessen discriminatory pressures. This study surmises that the Chinese authorities’ attempts to promote gender-neutral hiring policies now appear subordinate to forces unleashed by China’s burgeoning private sector. Female CEOs are also more likely to emerge in firms where at least one female director is present. However, the presence of international cross-listings does not materially raise CEO compensation or the likelihood of the CEO being female. In keeping with international norms, female CEOs receive less favourable compensation terms than their male counterparts. Finally, this study finds only limited evidence of a CEO gender–firm performance link.

Read the full paper by Prof. McGuinness and Prof. Lam at http://goo.gl/jWNUQF or click here to download a PDF copy.

Photo: Li Min/China Daily