Jamaica Tops the Global List for Female Leadership

Jamaica has the highest proportion of female managers in the world, with women accounting for 59.3% of all managers in the Caribbean nation, according to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

But across most of the globe women continue to be under-represented at senior management levels in business, despite the fact that they are beginning to outnumber men in higher education.

Generally, the larger the company, the fewer women there are at the top. Women hold over 40% of jobs globally, yet most of the businesses where they have acquired leadership roles are small in size.

Women represent around only 5% of CEOs of the largest global corporations, and they own and run 30% of the businesses in 73 out of 128 countries for which data was available.

Most of the businesses in the developed world choose females to fill up management positions in communications, public relations, and human resources, but these positions do not lead them to becoming the head of a company.

Countries with over 40% of female representation in senior management positions included Slovenia, Philippines, Ecuador, Latvia, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

The ILO says numerous recent studies document the positive business outcomes gained in hiring/retaining more women at the highest levels as part of more diverse management teams.

In 2012, according to the Latin Business Chronicle, only 1.8% of companies in Latin America were run by women.

In Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Saint Lucia, women have a long history of accessing higher education. “In addition, there is a crisis of masculinity, with women assuming much of the social and economic responsibility of families and thus playing a greater role in decision-making generally,” the report added.