Firms with female top manager (% of firms) - Country Ranking

Definition: Firms with female top manager refers to the percentage of firms in the private sector who have females as top managers. Top manager refers to the highest ranking manager or CEO of the establishment. This person may be the owner if he/she works as the manager of the firm. The results are based on surveys of more than 100,000 private firms.

Source: World Bank, Enterprise Surveys (http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Thailand 64.80 2016
2 Cambodia 57.30 2016
3 Lao PDR 43.10 2018
4 Myanmar 41.10 2016
5 Mongolia 38.90 2019
6 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 38.60 2010
7 South Africa 38.50 2020
8 Lesotho 36.20 2016
9 The Bahamas 33.20 2010
10 Kyrgyz Republic 32.90 2019
11 Latvia 32.60 2019
12 Venezuela 31.10 2010
13 Lithuania 30.70 2019
14 Philippines 29.90 2015
15 Bulgaria 28.80 2019
16 Madagascar 28.20 2013
17 El Salvador 28.00 2016
17 Honduras 28.00 2016
19 Poland 27.80 2019
20 Namibia 27.40 2014
20 Eswatini 27.40 2016
22 Timor-Leste 27.00 2015
22 Nicaragua 27.00 2016
22 Croatia 27.00 2019
25 Malaysia 26.30 2015
25 Bolivia 26.30 2017
25 Bhutan 26.30 2015
28 Kazakhstan 26.00 2019
29 Benin 25.90 2016
30 Belize 25.50 2010
31 Barbados 25.40 2010
32 Russia 24.30 2019
33 Jamaica 24.10 2010
34 Grenada 24.00 2010
35 St. Lucia 23.70 2010
36 Dominica 23.60 2010
37 Panama 23.50 2010
38 Cameroon 22.90 2016
38 Ecuador 22.90 2017
38 Slovak Republic 22.90 2019
41 Syrian Arab Republic 22.80 2009
42 Solomon Islands 22.60 2015
43 Estonia 22.50 2019
44 Vietnam 22.40 2015
45 Hungary 22.10 2019
45 Indonesia 22.10 2015
47 Rwanda 21.80 2019
48 North Macedonia 21.30 2019
49 Dominican Republic 21.20 2016
50 St. Kitts and Nevis 21.10 2010
50 Belarus 21.10 2018
52 Trinidad and Tobago 20.80 2010
53 Liberia 20.40 2017
54 Peru 19.90 2017
55 Paraguay 19.60 2017
56 Brazil 19.40 2009
57 Armenia 19.10 2020
58 Colombia 18.90 2017
59 Slovenia 18.80 2019
60 Moldova 18.60 2019
61 Guatemala 18.50 2017
62 Serbia 18.20 2019
63 Kenya 18.10 2018
63 Albania 18.10 2019
65 Belgium 17.90 2020
66 Guyana 17.70 2010
66 Ukraine 17.70 2019
68 China 17.50 2012
68 Antigua and Barbuda 17.50 2010
70 Nepal 17.20 2013
70 Greece 17.20 2018
70 Congo 17.20 2009
70 Romania 17.20 2019
74 Cabo Verde 16.70 2009
75 Bosnia and Herzegovina 16.60 2019
76 Azerbaijan 16.50 2019
76 Georgia 16.50 2019
76 Botswana 16.50 2010
79 Burundi 16.30 2014
79 Zimbabwe 16.30 2016
81 Czech Republic 16.10 2019
82 Sierra Leone 15.90 2017
83 Mozambique 15.60 2018
84 Uganda 15.40 2013
84 Costa Rica 15.40 2010
86 Italy 15.30 2019
87 Ireland 15.10 2020
88 Montenegro 15.00 2019
89 Ghana 14.90 2013
90 Mexico 14.60 2010
91 Côte d'Ivoire 14.30 2016
92 Djibouti 14.20 2013
92 Malawi 14.20 2014
94 Senegal 14.10 2014
95 Tanzania 14.00 2013
95 Sweden 14.00 2020
95 Portugal 14.00 2019
98 Nigeria 13.90 2014
99 Papua New Guinea 13.80 2015
100 Netherlands 13.70 2020
101 Angola 13.50 2010
102 Finland 12.90 2020
102 Zambia 12.90 2019
104 Uzbekistan 12.40 2019
105 Central African Republic 12.10 2011
106 Chad 12.00 2018
107 Suriname 11.90 2018
108 Mali 11.60 2016
109 Gabon 11.50 2009
110 Togo 11.40 2016
111 Burkina Faso 11.30 2009
111 Malta 11.30 2019
113 Dem. Rep. Congo 10.80 2013
114 Niger 10.60 2017
114 Uruguay 10.60 2017
116 Tunisia 10.40 2020
117 Israel 10.10 2013
118 The Gambia 9.60 2018
119 India 8.90 2014
120 Sri Lanka 8.80 2011
121 Denmark 8.30 2020
122 Cyprus 8.20 2019
123 Argentina 8.00 2017
124 Eritrea 7.60 2009
125 Luxembourg 7.40 2020
126 Tajikistan 6.60 2019
127 Egypt 6.30 2020
128 Pakistan 6.00 2013
129 Lebanon 5.90 2019
130 Guinea 5.80 2016
131 Morocco 5.40 2019
132 Bangladesh 4.80 2013
133 Afghanistan 4.70 2014
134 Ethiopia 4.50 2015
134 Mauritania 4.50 2014
134 Chile 4.50 2010
137 Turkey 3.90 2019
138 Sudan 3.40 2014
139 Jordan 3.10 2019
140 Iraq 2.30 2011
141 Yemen 1.60 2013

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Development Relevance: Firms evaluating investment options, governments interested in improving business conditions, and economists seeking to explain economic performance have all grappled with defining and measuring the business environment. The firm-level data from Enterprise Surveys provide a useful tool for benchmarking economies across a large number of indicators measured at the firm level. Firms with female top manager measures women's integration as decision makers. Benchmarking firms with female top manager is important to achieving gender equality promotion and empowerment of women. The gender topic provides information about women's entrepreneurship and economic participation in the labor force.

Limitations and Exceptions: The sampling methodology for Enterprise Surveys is stratified random sampling. In a simple random sample, all members of the population have the same probability of being selected and no weighting of the observations is necessary. In a stratified random sample, all population units are grouped within homogeneous groups and simple random samples are selected within each group. This method allows computing estimates for each of the strata with a specified level of precision while population estimates can also be estimated by properly weighting individual observations. The sampling weights take care of the varying probabilities of selection across different strata. Under certain conditions, estimates' precision under stratified random sampling will be higher than under simple random sampling (lower standard errors may result from the estimation procedure). The strata for Enterprise Surveys are firm size, business sector, and geographic region within a country. Firm size levels are 5-19 (small), 20-99 (medium), and 100+ employees (large-sized firms). Since in most economies, the majority of firms are small and medium-sized, Enterprise Surveys oversample large firms since larger firms tend to be engines of job creation. Sector breakdown is usually manufacturing, retail, and other services. For larger economies, specific manufacturing sub-sectors are selected as additional strata on the basis of employment, value-added, and total number of establishments figures. Geographic regions within a country are selected based on which cities/regions collectively contain the majority of economic activity. Ideally the survey sample frame is derived from the universe of eligible firms obtained from the country’s statistical office. Sometimes the master list of firms is obtained from other government agencies such as tax or business licensing authorities. In some cases, the list of firms is obtained from business associations or marketing databases. In a few cases, the sample frame is created via block enumeration, where the World Bank “manually” constructs a list of eligible firms after 1) partitioning a country’s cities of major economic activity into clusters and blocks, 2) randomly selecting a subset of blocks which will then be enumerated. In surveys conducted since 2005-06, survey documentation which explains the source of the sample frame and any special circumstances encountered during survey fieldwork are included with the collected datasets. Obtaining panel data, i.e. interviews with the same firms across multiple years, is a priority in current Enterprise Surveys. When conducting a new Enterprise Survey in a country where data was previously collected, maximal effort is expended to re-interview as many firms (from the prior survey) as possible. For these panel firms, sampling weights can be adjusted to take into account the resulting altered probabilities of inclusion in the sample frame.

Original Source Notes: All surveys were administered using the Enterprise Surveys methodology as outlined in the Methodology page which can be found from www.enterprisesurveys.org.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Firm-level surveys have been conducted since the 1990's by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit. Surveys implemented by the Enterprise Analysis Unit follow the Global Methodology. Private contractors conduct the Enterprise Surveys on behalf of the World Bank. Due to sensitive survey questions addressing business-government relations and bribery-related topics, private contractors, rather than any government agency or an organization/institution associated with government, are hired by the World Bank to collect the data. Confidentiality of the survey respondents and the sensitive information they provide is necessary to ensure the greatest degree of survey participation, integrity and confidence in the quality of the data. Surveys are usually carried out in cooperation with business organizations and government agencies promoting job creation and economic growth, but confidentiality is never compromised. The Enterprise Survey is answered by business owners and top managers. Sometimes the survey respondent calls company accountants and human resource managers into the interview to answer questions in the sales and labor sections of the survey. Typically 1200-1800 interviews are conducted in larger economies, 360 interviews are conducted in medium-sized economies, and for smaller economies, 150 interviews take place. The manufacturing and services sectors are the primary business sectors of interest. This corresponds to firms classified with ISIC codes 15-37, 45, 50-52, 55, 60-64, and 72 (ISIC Rev.3.1). Formal (registered) companies with 5 or more employees are targeted for interview. Services firms include construction, retail, wholesale, hotels, restaurants, transport, storage, communications, and IT. Firms with 100% government/state ownership are not eligible to participate in an Enterprise Survey. Occasionally, for a few surveyed countries, other sectors are included in the companies surveyed such as education or health-related businesses. In each country, businesses in the cities/regions of major economic activity are interviewed. In some countries, other surveys, which depart from the usual Enterprise Survey methodology, are conducted. Examples include 1) Informal Surveys- surveys of informal (unregistered) enterprises, 2) Micro Surveys- surveys fielded to registered firms with less than five employees, and 3) Financial Crisis Assessment Surveys- short surveys administered by telephone to assess the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008-09. The Enterprise Surveys Unit uses two instruments: the Manufacturing Questionnaire and the Services Questionnaire. Although many questions overlap, some are only applicable to one type of business. For example, retail firms are not asked about production and nonproduction workers. The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.

Aggregation method: Unweighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Relevance to gender indicator: Women are vastly underrepresented in decision making positions at the top level in the private sector and this indicator monitors progress that has been made.