Only 20% of corporate leaders in SG are women: SBR report

Half of the 20% lead Mapletree group firms.

Women remain significantly underrepresented among Singapore’s corporate elite, making up just 20% of CEOs on the Singapore Business Review’s (SBR) list. In contrast, 80% of CEOs are men.

The ranking compiled data on CEOs of the 30-company Straits Times Index (STI), highlighting gender representation in the city-state’s leading businesses. 

Of the 20%, half of them are from the Mapletree Investments Pte. Ltd. group, it added.

Amongst the women are Sharon Lim, CEO at Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Jean Kam, CEO at Mapletree Logistics Trust, and Ler Lily, CEO at Mapletree Industrial Trust.

Lim held senior roles at CapitaMalls Malaysia REIT before stepping as CEO at the firm in 2015. Kam took the helm in 2024 after she headed its investment division. In the same year, Lily became CEO at Mapletree Industrial after serving as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO).

Other female leaders of STI-listed firms are Tan Su Shan, CEO of DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Helen Wong, CEO of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., and Anthea Lee, CEO of Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust.

Women occupy 23.3% of board seats worldwide, up 3.6 percentage points since 2022, according to a report by Deloitte Global published last year.

In Singapore, women hold 20.8% of board seats—below the global average but above regional averages—showing steady progress. Female board chair representation in Singapore is 8.3%, the same as in the Philippines.