Why Filipino Women Need to Roar

Why do Filipino women need to roar? I’ll give you four good reasons. First, the value of women in leadership is increasingly being recognized. Second, more opportunities are opening up for women to take on leadership roles. Third, women who have had senior leadership roles are eager to help younger women rise up and realize their full professional potential. Fourth, the country needs them.

Let’s start with the first of those reasons: that the value of women in leadership is increasingly being recognized—by men.

Zenger Folkman is a US-based leadership assessment firm, founded by two gracious men. In the firm’s 2018 study of 62,790 leaders from around the world, women were rated as being significantly more effective than males. The top competencies for women were initiative, resilience, self-development, a drive for results, and high integrity and trust. The competencies where women were about at par with men were collaboration and teamwork, connecting to the outside world, and communicating powerfully and prolifically.

So, women excel at integrity, taking the initiative, and getting the job done. We are keen to improve our capabilities, and when the chips are down, we show resilience. When it comes to teamwork, communication, and making connections with the outside world, we’re just as good as men. If we’re that terrific, it’s time to roar.

Superior performance
But don’t just take Zenger Folkman’s word for it. Listen to what one of the wealthiest men in the world has to say: In 2018, Warren Buffet said that one of the things he was optimistic about in America was women entering the workforce and the doubling of the talent that is effectively employable.

The international business information services company Standard & Poor’s (S&P) in a 2019 Global Market Intelligence report found that firms with female CEOs and chief financial officers have produced superior stock price performance, compared to the market average. In addition, firms with high gender diversity on their board of directors were more profitable and larger than firms with low gender diversity.

Now let’s move to the second of my reasons why Filipinas need to roar: more opportunities are opening up for us. Check out the trends in the United States: In 2018, women made up of less than 21 percent of board members of S&P 500 companies and 5 percent of CEOs. A mere three years later, as of June 30, 2021, women held 25.6 percent of board seats at the 3,000 largest publicly held companies in America and 8.2 percent of CEO roles. It is expected that by 2025 women will hold 15 percent of CEO roles.

My third reason for Filipinas to roar is that there are a number of senior women ready to help them—but you’ve got to ask for that help. The organization of which I have been a member for several years, the Filipina CEO Circle, has provided mentoring services to scores of younger Filipinas. Our conclusions after all of this mentoring? Stop being shy, sister Filipinas. Speak up. Claim your worthiness. Claim your rightful place as a leader.

Nation-builders
Now to my fourth reason why Filipinas should roar, and this is the reason closest to my heart: your country needs you. I have always believed that the most compelling reason for women to enter the workforce is to help build our country.

In 2018, McKinsey Global Institute Research revealed that the Philippines could add $40 billion a year to its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, or 7 percent above business-as-usual GDP if we advanced women’s equality. The Philippines is already the region’s best performer in women’s participation in professional and technical jobs and in leadership positions.

However, based on the Institute of Corporate Directors’ 2017 survey, the supply funnel of women entering the workforce starts wide at the top (56 percent women, 44 percent men) and gets narrower at the bottom as women reach more senior leadership and board roles (15 percent women, 85 percent men). A 2021 study by Deloitte revealed that women in the Philippines occupy only 17.7 percent of board roles and 6.7 percent of CEO roles.

The selection pool for potential board directors is dominated by men and a man is three times more likely to get a board seat than a woman.

Sister Filipinas, are you ready to roar? If so, here is some concluding advice:
1. Know what you want.
2. Have a career plan and ask for the job.
3. Dress the part.
4. Network, network, network.
5. Continuously learn.
6. Build your personal brand and “differentiate” yourself.
7. Always add value.
8. Speak up and give your honest opinion.
9. Do your research.
10. Leverage your successes.

Filipina women need to roar more than ever. We desperately need the additional $40 billion to help build our country out of the pandemic crisis. And for the longer term, we need you and your wonderful leadership capabilities. Go for it!

***This article was previously published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 11, 2022. Minor edits have been made by JC Lookingglass editors. ***