3 in 5 Singaporeans insist that prejudice against women still exists

More than half claim there are few women in management positions.

Despite the city-state ranking positively in the World Economic forum's Global Gender Gap Index, most Singaporean employees believe the glass ceiling still exists and holds back the prospects of women in their respective organizations.

According to a recent study conducted by Willis Towers Watson, over 63% of the local respondents in the city-state still has strong perception of the glass ceiling that hinders women from climbing the corporate ladder.

The report pointed out that this is significantly higher than other markets in the Asia Pacific Region, where less than half of China-based respondents (46%), for instance, believe in glass ceiling, followed by Kuala Lumpur (45%) and Hong Kong (36%).

The report also stated that 56% of Singapore respondents claimed that they still see relatively few women in senior day-to-day management positions.

Willis Towers Watson Regional Practice Director Mira Gajraj Mohan said the perceived absence of women in the boardroom is rooted to them not being seen or heard enough.

"To counter this, they must employ a more hands-on approach and network more prolifically to build their personal brand. At the same time, female directors need to proactively act as mentors for the other women in their organisations who are most in need of support in developing their corporate and personal skillsets,” she said.

More so, she noted the need for CEOs to recognise business value of an inclusive workplace and to remove potential gender biases to make way for a new mix of competencies.

“We need to let men be men and let women be women – but recognise that our systems need to be tweaked to create equal opportunity to progress,” she said.