Gender diversity benefits businesses

Concept artwork generated by Google Gemini (Imagen 3) to celebrate International Women's Day.

International Women's Day on March 8 is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to accelerate women's equality. 

New research* released for the day has shown that gender equality remains a key societal issue, with women’s rights under threat due to workplace inequalities and online abuse. The annual study, released by HeForShe, The United Nations Global Solidarity Movement for Gender Equality, and global marketing agency TEAM LEWIS, revealed that public awareness of gender inequality has increased, but geopolitical issues overshadow the issue:

- Over 75% believe companies still need to implement policies for women in the workplace.

- One third of women (32%) have reconsidered their employment due to their company’s in-office policy. Of those, 45% say the reason for reconsidering is inflexibility at work. 

- Only 17% of women received a pay rise in the last year, compared to 24% of men. 

- In leadership, women continue to be under-represented. The percentage of women in senior management roles declined to 53% this year, vs 56% in 2023 and 2024.

"Rights, equality and empowerment remain vital to global prosperity. We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. Equality is everyone’s responsibility. 2025 is the year for men and boys to stand alongside women and girls to help make change happen.” said Vesna Jaric, Global Head of HeForShe, UN Women.

The benefits of gender diversity were championed by industry observers.

Lim Hsin Yin, VP of Sales for ASEAN, Cohesity, has contributed to the community through mentoring initiatives, including as Chairwoman of the SGTech AI Skills and Training Committee and in industry councils. 

She observed: "International Women’s Day is a moment to celebrate the progress we’ve made in fostering gender diversity and to reflect on the work still ahead. With over 30 years in the tech industry, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of diverse perspectives." 

Stephanie Barnett, VP of Presales for the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), Okta said: "On International Women’s Day, when I reflect on what it means to be a woman in tech I feel both inspired by how far things have come, and feel energised and compelled to do so much more. While progress has been made, sectors like presales, security, and identity still reveal a significant gender gap that has persisted for decades and will continue until we radically and aggressively change and solve for the biases that exist across education, recruitment and workforce inequity.

"Mentorship has had a transformative impact on my career. I’ve been fortunate to have mentors, both men and women, who have offered guidance that goes beyond advice, helping me navigate difficult situations and complex challenges. I feel deeply accountable to pay forward the privilege that I have had in having phenomenal cheerleaders sitting in my blind spots helping me course correct, deeply reflect and charge forward with perspective and support.

"Personally, I believe that fostering diversity in an organisation is not just a checkbox activity and it takes work, takes focus, takes commitment and it may lead to discomfort and potential change management that will be initially uncomfortable, but future and long term looking will significantly accelerate revenue and positive business business results."

Said Remus Lim, Senior VP, Asia Pacific & Japan, Cloudera:  "As we celebrate International Women’s Day, this year’s theme, #AccelerateAction, serves as a call to move beyond conversation and drive real, measurable progress. At Cloudera, we know that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) isn’t achieved in a single day—it’s a continuous effort that requires commitment, accountability, and the courage to challenge the status quo.

"Creating a truly inclusive workplace isn’t just about policies or programmes—it’s about recognising the talent, ambition, and potential that too often go unseen. Business leaders have a responsibility to not only open doors but to actively support and uplift those who may have been overlooked by traditional hiring and promotion practices."

"I’ve seen firsthand how potential-based hiring and mentorship can change careers—and lives. During the period when I was mentoring a colleague, I realised the importance of approaching issues from different angles when charting out new communication pathways between my mentee and other members of the leadership team. This allowed her to see her ideas to fruition while the organisation benefits from fresh perspectives across functions and levels," added Lim from Cloudera. 

"When we focus on who someone can become, rather than just what they’ve done in the past, we create pathways for talent that may not have had the same access or opportunities. When we do this, our teams grow stronger, our innovation becomes richer, and our workplaces become places where everyone has the chance to thrive."

Verena Siow, President and MD, SAP Southeast Asia, shared that this year's theme for International Women’s Day, Accelerate Action, deeply resonated with her. "To me, this theme reinforces the notion that we must take urgent and proactive actions to drive gender equity and parity. It also aligns with one of my personal mantras: Accelerate to Innovate. Just as businesses must embrace bold, decisive action to drive meaningful innovation, we must do the same to advance gender equity," she said.

"Change is often perceived as a gradual process. But while it is true that change does not take place overnight, every little step we take in accelerating action unlocks new possibilities. In Southeast Asia, I’ve seen firsthand how equipping women with the right skills, access, and support can create extraordinary outcomes."

"Yet, barriers remain. Systemic biases still slow progress, from unequal access to leadership opportunities to deeply ingrained stereotypes. The World Economic Forum estimates that at the current pace, full gender parity will not be achieved for another 134 years — a timeline we cannot accept." 

"Innovation does not happen by waiting. It happens by taking action, challenging norms, and accelerating change. Just as we push the boundaries of technology, we must do the same for equity, opportunity, and leadership. The reality is clear: diversity drives better decisions, stronger businesses, and more resilient economies. The question is no longer “why” we need to act, but how much quicker we can make change happen," Siow concluded.

"The broader challenge of gender equality remains stark. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2024, achieving full gender parity will take 134 years—roughly five generations—at the current pace of progress. We cannot afford to wait. Governments, businesses, academia, and industry bodies must work together to ensure gender equality is not just a long-term aspiration but an urgent economic and innovation priority," agreed Jess Ng, Country Head, Singapore and Brunei, Fortinet.   

Siow touched on mentorship and leadership as solutions. To truly accelerate progress, three actions are critical, she said:

- Sponsorship over mentorship. Women need not just mentorship but advocates—leaders who actively open doors, champion careers, and create opportunities.

- Equal access to leadership tracks. High-impact projects and decision-making roles must be accessible to women at all levels, ensuring a stronger pipeline for future leadership.

- A redefinition of leadership. Success is not just about traditional leadership traits like aggressiveness; it’s about diverse perspectives, emotional intelligence, and inclusivity. Organisations that embrace this perform better and retain top talent.

Explore

Download the HeForShe research at https://www.teamlewis.com/heforshe/ 

Hashtags: #IWD2025, #AccelerateAction 

*TEAM LEWIS Foundation surveyed the general population aged 18 and above across a balanced and diverse group of ages, races, and gender. A total of 5,003 respondents were polled across 10 countries, including the US, UK, UAE, Australia, China, France, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, and Spain. Localised translations were provided where necessary. Data was collected through an online survey consisting of 55 questions and fielded from February 5 to 14, 2025.

Transformative policies could lead to more women in leadership roles in APAC

Concept art generated by Blue Willow to illustrate an office discussion. The genders of the people sitting vs standing in the image were not specified in the prompt.

LinkedIn's latest data for the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) has found that women are significantly under-represented in leadership roles across Australia, India, and Singapore.

Despite constituting 49% of Australia's workforce, only 35% of leadership positions are occupied by women, for instance, a statistic that LinkedIn says has been unchanged since 2020. Similar disparities persist in India (23%) and Singapore (38%).

In addition, the share of women being hired into leadership over the last five years remains low: 38% in 2020 to 41% in 2024 in Australia; 24% in 2020 to 23% in 2024 in India; and 35% in 2020 to 38% in 2024 in Singapore. 

The company recently surveyed hiring managers in the Asia-Pacific region and said that things could be changing. The survey has highlighted that transformative policies such as internal mobility, career progression, and flexible work arrangements could become more common.

The survey found that female leaders are championing these transformative policies more than their male counterparts, though all leaders are moving in the same direction. In the year ahead, 54% of female leaders aim to emphasise career advancement and skill building, against 51% of male leaders. Moreover, 54% of female leaders prioritise internal mobility compared to 45% of male leaders, 50% advocate for flexible working policies (46% of male leaders said the same), and 38% believe that personalised flexible work arrangements are more attractive to employees compared to 31% of male leaders.

More than half of female leaders (51%) are committed to prioritising career progression for employees, compared to 49% of male leaders, and 49% emphasise the importance of flexible work arrangements, compared to 45% of male leaders. In China, 20% of female leaders are more likely to believe that fully remote work arrangements based on personal preferences are more attractive to employees, compared to 5% of male leaders.

“The lack of progress in female representation in leadership positions over the last five years in Australia, India, and Singapore is disappointing. While there has been some improvement in the share of women being hired into leadership roles, there is still much work to be done. 

"However, there is reason for optimism, as female leaders are more likely to advocate for career advancement, internal mobility, and flexible work arrangements, which can benefit other women seeking to progress in their careers or balance professional and personal responsibilities. I believe these initiatives have the potential to shift the needle in terms of female representation in the workforce,” said Feon Ang, LinkedIn's APAC MD.

LinkedIn's research has further found that the top five skills identified by hiring managers in the Asia-Pacific region emphasise not only AI knowhow, but also soft skills - problem-solving abilities (35%), communications skills (27%), critical thinking (25%), AI skills (19%) as well as IT and web skills (17%). 

Over the past eight years, LinkedIn said that both women and men have shown an increase in the share of soft skills listed on their LinkedIn profiles, but women have demonstrated a notably faster pace of growth. This trend has led to a doubling of the gender gap from 1.5 percentage points in 2016 to 3 percentage points in 2024 in favour of women when it comes to soft skills, and holds true across 70 countries.

LinkedIn suggested that shifting towards a model that prioritises skills over traditional experience could significantly increase the appearance of women in roles where they are traditionally under-represented. The company said that doing so could lead to a 24% increase in the talent pool of women compared to men globally.

Fatigue with equal rights in Singapore? Ipsos weighs in

Market researcher Ipsos has found that six in 10 Singaporeans (62%) believe that when it comes to giving women equal rights with men in Singapore, things have gone far enough. A breakdown of the data revealed a higher agreement among men (68%) compared to women (55%) on this sentiment.

Source: Ipsos research report: International Women's Day 2024. Respondents voted on the statement "There are actions I can take to help promote equality between men and women". Across a 31-country average, nearly two in three people (64%) agreed there are actions they can take to help promote equality between men and women. Around a quarter of people think there is nothing they can do (23%). There were no meaningful differences by gender.

The insights are from Ipsos' latest global study, carried out in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London for International Women’s Day. The survey was conducted among ~24,000 people across 31 countries, which includes ~500 Singaporeans.

Ipsos looked deeper into the results, and found that almost half of Singaporeans (48%) think that we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men. Notably, a significant 57% of Singaporean men echoed this sentiment on discrimination, as opposed to 29% of women.

While most Singaporeans (67%) admit that there are actions that they can take to help promote equality between men and women, there is still a fear among Singaporeans in advocating gender equality with 48% of Singaporeans saying that they are scared to speak out for the equal rights of women because of what might happen to them. In fact, more than half (58%) of Singaporeans agreed that men are being expected to do too much to support equality.

In business, almost two-thirds of Singaporeans think that male and female leaders are equally good at creating a financially successful and innovative company (58% and 60% respectively). Among those with a preference, there is a significant difference between those that think male or female business leaders are better. In both aspects of creating a financially successful company and an innovative one, 16% think males are better, and only 8% think females are better.

Respondents demonstrated a tendency to favour male bosses (36%) over female bosses (10%). However, the majority of respondents (51%) maintained a neutral stance, expressing no particular preference.

Katharine Zhou, Country Manager for Ipsos in Singapore commented: “It's revealing to see a majority believe that women's rights in Singapore have reached an adequate level, yet there is a significant gender difference in these perceptions. The concern expressed by 48% of respondents that the promotion of women’s equality might be discriminating against men is notable and warrants further examination.

"It is also interesting to note the apprehension among Singaporeans about advocating for gender equality. This could be attributed to various sociocultural factors and shows us that while we have made progress, there is still work to be done."

Zhou noted that there is a tendency to associate certain roles and capabilities with specific genders. "This points to a potential unconscious bias in our society," she said. "These findings call for a more comprehensive dialogue on gender equality, one that transcends familiar arguments into an increased appreciation of the nuanced sentiments that are emerging.”

Global findings include:

- Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to think agree that a man who stays home to look after his children is less of a man (25%, 27% respectively) than Gen X (20%) and Baby Boomers (11%). But within the generations there are differences in opinion. There is a 20-percentage point difference between Gen Z men (60%) and Gen Z women (40%) when it comes to thinking women’s equality discriminates against men.

- Two in three (65%) across 31 countries agree that women won’t achieve equality in their country unless men taken actions to support women’s rights too.

- Half (51%) of people across a 30-country average believe men are being expected to do too much to promote equality and fewer than two in five (39%) identify themselves as feminists.

AC Ventures: Investing in women-led business in Indonesia is worth US$421 B

Source: AC Ventures. Wong speaks at the Women’s CEO Forum.

Early-stage venture capital firm AC Ventures’ Managing Partner Helen Wong has called for actionable steps in supporting female investors, calling investment in Indonesia’s female founders an annual opportunity worth more than US$421 B.

Wong was speaking at the Women’s CEO Forum in Jakarta, an official sideline event of the ASEAN Business & Investment Summit (ABIS) 2023. Indonesia represents around 40% of ASEAN’s economy at large, and hosts over 64 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), representing 98% of all businesses in the nation. According to AC Ventures, more than half of these are estimated to be women-owned.

"In a market as vibrant as Indonesia's, women entrepreneurs are not just fulfilling a social role; they are key economic drivers. Our research indicates that investing in women-led businesses is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do," said Wong.

"Given that these businesses contribute significantly to the local economy – and keep it resilient during times of crisis such as the pandemic – we're looking at an untapped yearly opportunity worth hundreds of billions of dollars. As such, we need more female investors who understand this and are willing to take concerted action to back more female founders."

Wong added that AC Ventures has learned that diversity is a business imperative. "A balanced team brings diverse perspectives, leading to smarter investment decisions and more robust portfolio performance,” she said.

AC Ventures has a 50:50 gender-balanced team and 41% female leadership across its investment portfolio, reflecting its core ethos of promoting an equitable business environment for a better future in Indonesia.

Singapore women largely feel they're paid fairly, and that their employers listen to them

Southeast Asia consumer research company Milieu Insight has conducted a study to understand sentiments about the amount of support, opportunities and rewards women receive at work among women in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Concept art featuring a woman
generated by dream by WOMBO.

Key findings include:

- Slightly more than two thirds (67%) of Singapore women feel that they are fairly remunerated for their work, but only 51% feel that they are rewarded fairly for going above and beyond

- Slightly under two thirds (65%) of Singapore women think that their companies are receptive to their feedback, but only 50% think that they act upon them

- Nearly four in 10 (39%) Singapore women feel that they have to work harder to achieve their goals because of their gender, lower that their counterparts in Indonesia (55%)

Singapore scored lower than counterparts in other countries for the following questions:

- “I am equipped with the resources I need to finish my tasks within working hours.” (Singapore: 79%, Indonesia: 88%, Philippines: 93%)

- “I am rewarded fairly when I go above and beyond my job scope.” (Singapore: 51%, Indonesia: 68%, Philippines: 62%)

- “There is someone at work whom I can celebrate my work achievements with.” (Singapore: 58%, Indonesia: 74%, Philippines: 83%) 

Hashtags: #IWD, #IWD2023, #InternationalWomensDay, #EmbraceEquity

*Based on Milieu Insight surveys with n=500 female employees each from Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, conducted via Milieu Insight's online proprietary panel in February 2023.

Singapore ranks third in APAC for fostering women entrepreneurs' growth

Source: Dell. Post-it notes show challenges facing women
in the workplace.

• Singapore is the third top-ranked city in the Asia Pacific region, behind Sydney and Melbourne in Australia for Dell's annual Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index.

• Since 2017, all 50 cities studied have improved on the majority of their indicators year-over-year. Cities in the Asia Pacific region are improving alongside all other cities globally, recording the biggest improvement in the Talent pillar.

• The Index serves as a diagnostic tool to advise policy-makers on how to better support women in business.

At the 10th annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) Summit in Singapore, Dell announced findings from the 2019 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index, ranking 50 global cities on their ability to foster growth for women entrepreneurs.

Source: Dell. Infographic showing the Dell Global WE Cities rankings for 2019.

Rankings for Asia Pacific and Middle East cities include:

12. Sydney
13. Melbourne
21. Singapore
23. Hong Kong
26. Taipei, Taiwan
34. Tokyo
37. Dubai, UAE
38. Beijing, mainland China
41. Seoul, Korea
43. Bangalore, India
44. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
47. Shanghai, mainland China
48. Istanbul, Turkey
49. Jakarta, Indonesia
50. Delhi, India

All 50 cities have made progress since 2017, Dell noted. However, some cities made bigger strides than others.

“The 2019 Dell WE Cities report is unique from other bodies of research in that it not only ranks 50 global cities on their ability to foster women entrepreneurs, it shows how the cities have improved from their 2017 benchmark,” commented Karen Campbell, Consulting Associate Director, IHS Markit.

“This year we can see some patterns emerging. Ranked cities have collectively made the most improvement in the Capital and Culture pillars, which shows the importance of measuring not just the operating environment but also enabling environment for women entrepreneurs. This data-driven approach shows where women entrepreneurs still face barriers in scaling their business.”

Highlights include:

• Out of a total of 100 possible points, the No. 1-ranked San Francisco Bay Area in the US only scored 63.7. Dell says that this means there is still much work to do to level the field for women – and validates the need for this kind of research and outreach to policymakers to move the needle for female founders.

• Lack of funding, high cost of living, low representation of women in leadership roles and the lack of government-led policies that support women entrepreneurs were among the barriers globally.

• Thirty out of 50 cities improved on more than half of their indicators. The most-improved cities represent nearly every region, which indicates how broad-based the improvements have been around the world.

“When more women work, economies grow. Technology is helping to drive this progress as a genderneutral enabler, and helps create a level playing field,” said Amit Midha, President of Asia Pacific & Japan, Global Digital Cities at Dell Technologies.

“Whilst all cities in the Index have improved, the crucial factor is the consistency of this improvement across the different factors that impact women entrepreneurs’ success. The WE Cities Index helps Dell Technologies get closer to our customers and understand the landscape in each city so we are better able to help women entrepreneurs scale their businesses.”

"We’re very excited about what’s been accomplished and what’s on the table," commented Midha at a media briefing. "Ten years ago, it wasn’t possible. Technology is a great new frontier and we are only at the end of the beginning."

Midha said that the size of a company is not as much of an advantage compared to speed and innovation, calling it "a great time to be a startup and a technology business". "We are solving problems that haven’t been solved before. Startups have a better playing field than ever before," he noted.

He highlighted e-commerce provider Zilingo's story as disruptive. "It's female founded, 50% of the board are female, we’re seeing a lot of green shoots come out, that’s fantastic," he said. "There's never been a better time to be a female founder."

In Asia Pacific (APAC), cities are improving as facilitators of growing businesses for women entrepreneurs alongside all other cities globally. The research suggests that APAC can add a collective annual US$4.5 trillion by 2025 – adding significant growth to growth – if women’s equality is addressed. Similarly, disruptive technologies also have great potential to push the region ahead as many markets are not faced with legacy infrastructure issues.

Four APAC cities are in the top 10 of most-improved for value of funds awarded to businesses with at least 25% women executives. In general, a regional challenge remains in the availability of funding – with contributing factors including lack of policy, and a lack of awareness that funding specifically for women-owned/led businesses is needed.

The research notes that public discussion on women’s issues is slow compared to the rest of the world, and the impact of those discussions emerged with less force. There are some exceptions. Much attention has been on the public discussion of women’s rights in India, owing in part to the power of social media in the country, and in Japan, high-profile women have spoken out against discriminatory working practices.

Regional highlights include:

• More cities in APAC moved down in rankings, than stayed the same or moved up.

• Cities in the APAC region scored the highest improvement in the Talent pillar. The region also improved significantly in the Technology pillar and was the top-improved region for that pillar.

• The median WE Cities score for the APAC region improved by a score of 0.7, compared to 3 in Europe and 0.9 in North America.

• APAC cities mainly fell behind in the pillars for Culture and Markets.

• Globally, Tokyo, Japan ranks second in improvements for women as a percentage of students at top universities, and first for the number of globally top-ranked universities. Tokyo also ranks most improved in number of  globally-recognised, successful women business leaders.

• Globally, Melbourne ranks second-most improved for percentage of the population with a tertiary education, and most improved for both percentage of women with a tertiary education and percentage of the labour force employed in IT.

• APAC is the second-lowest region in terms of board members who are women.

Singapore

Singapore ranks in the top half of the Index and is ahead of other cities in the region, behind only Sydney and Melbourne. The country ranks 2nd in improvements for an economic growth rate forecast of city, region or country over the next five years. While Singapore ranked No. 8 in 2017, and No. 21 in 2019, its decline in rank is not because the city has done poorly, but rather that the competition has made more progress.

Talent and Technology are Singapore’s strongest pillars. Singapore moved from 17th to 11th place in 2019 for Talent and moving from 10th to 6th place in Technology. Singapore’s Talent pillar benefitted from increasing its top school and business school rankings. It also increased its pool of professionals needed to help scale businesses.

Singapore ranks No. 47 globally for Markets as it was hampered by a high cost of living and suffered from a lack of accelerators and relatively few female board members. The 20 by 2020: Gender Diversity on Singapore Boards report was launched in 2018, highlighting that as of June 2017, the overall representation of female directors on boards listed on SGX crossed into the double digits for the first time in history. The report also noted that immedia te action on gender diversity on boards is imperative for Singapore to maintain its positioning as a leading global financial centre in Asia.

For the Capital pillar, Singapore ranked No. 25 globally as venture capital funding to female entrepreneurs increased, but this is still relatively light to other cities. Singaporean women also saw less crowdfunding, fewer female founders and a slight decline in high net worth individuals.

At the No. 28 spot globally on Culture alone, Singapore’s Culture score was relatively low due to fewer female role models or leaders amongst other factors. This said, Singapore is nevertheless more advanced than majority of its neighbours in the region in actively addressing gender parity issues.

“Singapore’s strong base in technology literacy and access to talent position it well to realise its goal in becoming the world’s first Smart Nation,” added Eric Goh, VP and MD, Singapore, Dell Technologies.

“This vision requires the collective effort of the public and private sector, to enable and equip individuals of all genders as agents of change. By highlighting the complex challenges that women entrepreneurs face in Singapore, we hope to be able to drive meaningful conversations and growth as we embark on this nationwide digital transformation journey.”

In a speech at DWEN Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Singapore noted that a lot had changed for women in the past 200 years. She highlighted the role of Samsui women in building infrastructure for Singapore in the 1960s and 70s, and said that women make up nearly half of the migrant workforce across ASEAN. Education for women has catalysed "a virtuous cycle that will benefit the economy," she said.

"Women are beginning to drive whole sectors of the economy. We are having our voices heard at all segments of Singapore," she said.

Source: Dell. Fu speaks about challenges facing women.

The Singapore government recognises the contribution that women make to the economy and is supporting the expansion of choices and opportunities for them, she said. "We don’t want our women to have to choose between career and family. We want to support them to have both in their lives, and increasingly men [to have the same flexibility in choices] too," she said.

Government initiatives include work-life grants to further develop a workplace that is supportive of flexible work arrangements, and a drive to expand diversity at the board level, Fu shared. The government is also looking at solutions to ease the social pressure on women to leave the workforce early to look after children and their elders.

"We need women around the table to equally cast our eyes on the present and the future, and ask ourselves what can we do to leave behind a great lecacy for ourselves, to create a better place for our daughters and our grand-daughters so that we will, equally, be the trailblazers of tomorrow," she concluded.

The 2017 to 2019 WE Cities Index results highlight the successes and challenges that each city faces, and where cities can learn best practices from one another. These key learnings, if supported by local governments, can add up to big changes for women-owned businesses, globally, said Dell.

Based on the findings and comparison between the 2017-2019 indices, Dell has developed a set of WE Cities Policy Recommendations focused on three areas, including:

• Access to and the development of financial and human capital.

Specifically, this can be supported through:

- Incentives for individuals and organisations to invest in women-owned companies through
venture funds, corporate venture, private equity and social capital.

- Modernisation of existing government certification, grant and loan programs that help women-owned businesses compete to reflect changing investment models.

- Promotion and marketing of existing government programs to encourage broader awareness and
use.

- Continuing to or start to foster small-business lending programmes.

- Creating new sources of capital such as crowdfunding and impact investments.

- Encouraging enterprises and government agencies to increase supplier diversity with a percentage of contracts being awarded to women-owned businesses.

- Considering a shortening of government payment cycles from 90 days to 30 days for small women-owned suppliers.

- Incentivise the adoption of family-friendly policies including access to affordable child care, elder
care and paid family leave policies.

• Private and public sectors role in increasing access to local and global networks and markets.

This could include:

- Supporting trade agreements that further liberalise trade and open new markets for businesses of
all sizes.

- Promoting global and open standards, and reliable mechanisms for cross-border data transfers
and business support services and networks, while providing sufficient protections for privacy and
information security.

- Supporting mentorship efforts through financial support and encouragement of multiplier
platforms such as accelerators, continuing education and training programmes, and facilitated
networking events.

- Encouraging conscious placement of women on boards, in venture partnerships and on executive
teams.

- Promoting positive success stories of female founders and business owners through the media,
conferences and leadership movements.

• How government and business leaders can help women entrepreneurs thrive in the changing face of technology, for example through:

- Streamlining the process of partnering and applying for government resources,

- Emphasising science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and digital literacy in
education and early training programmes.

- Working with business leaders and educators to encourage technology training programmes to end
unconscious biases in the STEM fields, government, corporations and institutions.

- Enabling access to broadband globally.

- Increasing awareness of options women have to the hardware, software and digital resources they need to scale their companies.
Dell partnered with IHS Markit to launch the research to measure a city’s ability to attract and support high-potential women entrepreneurs. Research for WE Cities began during the 2016 DWEN Research Symposium. The successful pilot of the 2016 index led to the scaling for the 2017 index to include 50 cities and in turn the remeasuring and ranking for 2019.

Building on 10 years of research on women entrepreneurs, Dell partnered with IHS Markit to research and rank 50 cities on five characteristics, including access to Capital, Technology, Talent, Culture and Markets. These pillars were organised into two groups — operating environment and enabling environment.

The criteria includes the impact of local policies, programmes and characteristics in addition to national laws and customs to help improve support for women entrepreneurs and the overall economy.

The overall rating is based on 71 indicators; 45 of which have a gender-based component. Individual indicators were weighted based on four criteria: relevance, quality of underlying data, uniqueness in the index and gender component.

"When we invest in women, we invest in the future; communities prosper, economies thrive and the next generation leads with purpose,” said Karen Quintos, EVP and Chief Customer Officer at Dell Technologies.

“By arming city leaders and policymakers with actionable, data-driven research on the landscape for women entrepreneurs, we can collectively accelerate the success of women-owned businesses by removing financial, cultural and political barriers."

Dell supports and nurtures a community of female entrepreneurs through the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network by providing access to technology, networks and capital. The annual DWEN Summit was held in Singapore from July 14-16, 2019.

Hashtag: #DWEN

Singapore gets Women Entrepreneur City Blueprint

Source: Dell SlideShare. Cover slide for the deck introducing the Dell 2018 Women Entrepreneur Cities Study.

Dell has unveiled new diagnostic tools for local governments and policymakers to help enable women entrepreneurs to succeed at the 9th annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network Summit (DWEN) in Toronto, Canada.

Built on the findings of the 2017 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index Dell, with research partner IHS Markit has developed deep-dive analyses on the barriers and opportunities for women entrepreneurs accessing capital and leveraging technology to scale. Dell also developed 10 city blueprints designed to spotlight actions a city can take to improve the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.

“Women’s entrepreneurship rates rose globally by 13% in 2017, reflecting broader momentum of increased female representation across the public and private sectors in many regions around the world. However, access to capital and technology, as well as cultural and political barriers, continue to limit the success of women-owned businesses,” said Karen Quintos, Executive VP and Chief Customer Officer at Dell.

“With the release of the WE City Deep Dives and Blueprints, leaders and policymakers can confidently move from ‘analysis to action,’ accelerating positive change that allows women entrepreneurs to thrive – which benefits local communities, wider society and the global economy."

“According to extensive data and analysis, when barriers to women entrepreneurship are removed, there is a dramatic uplift in a city’s economic prospects,” said Cris Turner, VP of Government Affairs at Dell. “The WE City Deep Dives and Blueprints offer insights on what cities on the list can learn from one another and encourage political action to attract and support women entrepreneurs at the local level.”

WE City Blueprints

The WE City Blueprints look at areas of strength and areas of improvement to provide city leaders and policymakers with data-driven research and recommendations on how to foster high-potential women entrepreneurs.

Blueprint cities include:

• Austin, Texas, US
• Boston, Massachussetts, US
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Toronto, Canada
• London, UK
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Sydney, Australia
• Tokyo, Japan
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Singapore

“Being the only Asian city that made it to the top 10 of all the cities measured, Singapore holds huge promise and opportunity for women entrepreneurs. We believe that by highlighting these differences and successes via the WE City Deep Dives and Blueprints, we can collectively improve the landscape for high-potential women entrepreneurs,” said Eric Goh, VP, Singapore Enterprise Business, Dell EMC.

Singapore ranked No. 8 within the top 10. It ranks No. 7 in terms of Capital, No. 6 in Enabling Environment, No. 5 in Culture and No. 10 in Technology. On the dimensions that are measured:

- Singapore does particularly well on policies that can help impact a supportive culture for women entrepreneurs and provide capital.

- Singapore scores well above the median level in the areas of safety and security, ease of starting a business and access to open and flexible technology.


Specifically, Singapore's strengths are in:

Policies that can help impact a supportive technology and culture for women entrepreneurs including top scores in:

✓ Collection of city level data on income or employment by gender
✓ Frequency of city events for women entrepreneurs or businesswomen
✓ Gender equality in Facebook use
✓ Open data initiatives
✓ Paid maternity and paternity leave
✓ Presence of a city portal/website for business creation

- Singapore ranked relatively lower in the areas of markets and talent. While some of this is due to factors such as population and presence of global universities, some represent opportunity where Singapore can make significant progress for women entrepreneurs. Areas to improve include:

• Singaporean society places a high value on meritocratic advancement, leaving behind underrepresented groups as a result. The government has taken some steps to rectify unbalanced representation, but large gaps remain

• Singapore falls behind Beijing and Shanghai for having the highest female labour force participation rate (LFPR) at 60.4%. Singapore does not have a policy for “equal remunerator for work of equal value”, it is important to note that only three of the 11 Asian cities do. The city, among the rest of the Asian cities, does have a policy for paid maternity leave and it is among the majority for having a paid paternity leave policy

Key recommendations for Singapore:

• Policies to level the playing field for working women, and particularly help them return to work after having children, will help women get the experience they need to found successful businesses

• Though a commitment to flexible work practices has been emphasised and improving in the past ten years, further policies that improve work/life balance, and a commitment to encourage employees to take advantage of those policies, would help women take on leadership roles

• Less than 10% of company boards are women. Singapore should encourage women to serve in leadership roles in businesses by promoting them more publicly

• Policies that give women more access to capital, including working towards equal pay, will be important in encouraging women to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities

Capital and technology are critical for scaling any business, but women face unique challenges with both. In 2017, only 2% of venture funding went to female founders. Based on the qualitative analysis of the WE Cities Index and insights from members of the DWEN network, many women entrepreneurs are not leveraging innovative technologies to scale their businesses.

WE Cities ranking and methodology

Built on the past six years of Dell research on high-potential women entrepreneurs (HPWE), cities were ranked on five important characteristics: capital, technology, talent, culture and markets. These pillars were organised into two groups — operating environment and enabling environment. The overall rating is based on 72 indicators; 45 of these, nearly two-thirds, have a gender-based component. Individual indicators were weighted based on four criteria: relevance, quality of underlying data, uniqueness in the index and gender component.

The 50 cities were ranked as follows:

• New York City, New York, US
• Bay Area, California, US
• London, UK
• Boston, Massachussetts, US
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Los Angeles, California, US
• Washington DC, US
• Singapore
• Toronto, Canada
• Seattle, Washington, US
• Sydney, Australia
• Paris, France
• Chicago, Illinois, US
• Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
• Austin, Texas, US
• Hong Kong, China
• Melbourne, Australia
• Atlanta, US
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Portland, Oregon, US
• Berlin, Germany
• Taipei, Taiwan
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US
• Tel Aviv, Israel
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Vancouver, Canada
• Houston, US
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Barcelona, Spain
• Seoul, South Korea
• Munich, Germany
• Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, US
• Nairobi, Kenya
• Dublin, Ireland
• Warsaw, Poland
• Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Milan, Italy
• Beijing, China
• Tokyo, Japan
• Bangalore, India
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Dubai, UAE
• Shanghai, China
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Lima, Peru
• Guadalajara, Mexico
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Delhi, India
• Jakarta, Indonesia

Key Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) findings include:

Access and use of technology varies widely across cities, but in general, Western cities and highly developed Asian cities outperform the rest. In APJ, Hong Kong (No. 5) and Singapore (No. 10) made it to the top 10 cities under the Technology pillar. Sydney is a benchmark city recognised as an emerging global entrepreneurship centre and ranks No. 23 in the Technology pillar.

Obtaining capital to start or expand a business is one of the biggest obstacles for women entrepreneurs. San Francisco greatly outperforms the other cities but in APJ, Singapore (No. 7) and Beijing (No. 10) made it to the top 10 cities under the Capital pillar.

Majority of women in Singapore say they are under-represented in leadership roles

Source: Robert Walters white paper. 

Empowering Women In The Workplace, a white paper* from specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters, has found that 75% of women surveyed in Singapore feel that they are inadequately represented in leadership positions. In contrast, 56% of male respondents in Singapore state that they think women have sufficient standing in business-leading roles.

One in five (21%) of the respondents in Singapore agreed that women made up more than 20% of leadership positions in their organisations. However, less than half (45%) believed that there are strong female leaders within their organisations that they can look up to as role models.

Further advocating the need for gender diversity in the workplace, a majority (79%) of women in Singapore cited the presence of a mentor or sponsor at the senior management level as the most helpful driver in empowering them to develop their careers.

Joanne Chua, Account Director of Robert Walters Southeast Asia, comments, “From our interactions with professionals of both genders and observations as market leaders, we noticed that more often, women tend to second-guess their capabilities compared to their male counterparts. This has in turn often limited their progression at the workplace. It is our desire to inspire more females to break out of their comfort zones, challenge the mindsets of society and in some cases, their own mindsets of the role of women in the workplace to fulfill their fullest potential in the workplace.”

Highlights from the survey:

 More than a third (37%) of females in Singapore think their current employer has clear and enforced policies on gender diversity, equality and inclusion 

 Just under half (49%) of women surveyed feel that their organisation is lacking in fair and equal representation of female business leaders 

 When asked to name the top three reasons why women are under-represented, 37% of all respondents in Singapore cited family pressures or commitments outside of work 

 Additionally, 32% believed it is due to a preference by management to promote men over women, and 30% attributed it to a workplace culture that does not actively foster diversity, inclusion and equality

Interested?

Browse the Empowering Women In The Workplace white paper (PDF)

*Empowering Women In The Workplace is based on a survey conducted in January 2016 to better understand existing perceptions of gender diversity across key markets in Asia Pacific. The survey gathered the views of over 4,400 clients and active job seekers across Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Additional interviews and research were collated to complement survey findings.

Acquiring digital skills could close the gender gap as much as 40 years more quickly: Accenture

Source: Accenture. Closing the gender gap at work.

Digital skills and technologies are helping women in Singapore find, and advance at, work, but men remain the dominant wage earners, Accenture research* shows. Women’s success in becoming digitally fluent – the extent to which they embrace and use digital technologies to become more knowledgeable, connected and effective – moved Singapore to 5th place among 31 countries participating in Accenture’s research.

Getting to Equal: How Digital is Helping Close the Gender Gap at Work provides empirical proof that women are using digital skills to gain an edge in preparing for work, finding work and advancing at work. While women still lag behind men in digital fluency in all but a handful of countries, improving their digital skills can change the picture.

If governments and businesses can double the pace at which women become digitally fluent, gender equality could be achieved in 25 years in developed nations, versus 50 years at the current pace. Gender equality in the workplace could be achieved in 45 years in developing nations, versus 85 years at the current pace.

“Women represent an untapped talent pool that can help fill the gap between the skills needed to stay competitive and the talent available,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s Chairman and CEO. "There is a clear opportunity for governments and businesses to collaborate on efforts that will empower more women with digital skills – and accelerate gender equality in the workforce.”

Although digital fluency helps women advance in their careers, its impact has not closed the gender gap among executives – or extended to pay equality. In Singapore, men are still, by far, the dominant earners by household for all three generations. This will change as more millennial women and digital natives move into management. The research found that, in Singapore, seven in 10 millennial and Gen X women surveyed aspire to be in leadership positions.

Men use digital to prepare for and find work more frequently than women (100% and 90% respectively). Yet, the research found that, when women and men have the same level of digital proficiency, women are better at leveraging it to find work. Nearly six in 10 (58%) of all survey respondents in Singapore – men and women combined—agreed that digital enables them to work from home; 42% said it provides a better balance between personal and professional lives; and 48% report digital has increased access to job opportunities.

Women’s digital fluency is toward the lower ends of the scores in the research model and the gap between men and women is the second largest. The model helps measure how digitally fluent women are compared to men, as well as how much that fluency is helping to drive positive changes in their education, employment and advancement at work.

The scores for education are relatively low for women and Singapore is one of the countries where men outperform women, according to the model. But almost three quarters (74%) of millennial and Gen X women report having earned a university degree, compared to only 11% of their mothers. Despite the low scores for digital fluency and education, women here do reasonably well for employment and advancement at work. Singapore’s advancement score is the fifth highest in the model.

“Although Singapore has performed better than the global average in terms of overall gender diversity, the research also found that Singapore has one of the biggest digital gaps between men and women, in which digital fluency will undoubtedly play a bigger role in helping to close the gender gap,” said Teo Lay Lim, Accenture Senior Managing Director, ASEAN, and Country Managing Director, Singapore. “At Accenture in ASEAN, women currently make up 49.4% of our workforce, and we are committed to grooming the next generation of women leaders. This means meaningful investments in building women’s digital skills – through education, training and on-the-job learning – which will help speed their progress at every career stage.”

This is the first time that Accenture has published its ASEAN gender workforce demographics and statistics. Moving forward, Accenture intends to report annually on its progress across diversity and inclusion globally.

“By taking a bold step towards increased transparency around our gender diversity statistics, Accenture is strengthening our commitment to levelling the playing field for women in the workplace. With access to an increased talent pool in the region, this will allow us to better serve the needs of our clients, people and communities. Encouraging young women and girls to develop science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills is critical to both our business and the region’s continuous development, and I believe that women have a lot to contribute in this area,” Teo added.

*To identify and better understand the role of digital fluency in workforce gender equality, the Accenture Digital Fluency Model was developed. A survey was conducted in December 2015 and January 2016 of more than 4,900 women and men in 31 countries to assess the extent to which people are using digital technologies in their personal and home life, as well as in their education and work. The sample included equal representation of working men and women, representing three generations (Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers) across all workforce levels at companies of varying size. The margin of error for the total sample was approximately +/- 1.4%. Digital technologies include virtual coursework, digital collaboration tools (webcams, instant messaging), social media platforms and use of digital devices, such as smart phones. Survey responses were combined with published reports and publicly available information on education, employment and leadership and research from the World Bank, the OECD, World Economic Forum and the ITU World Telecommunication. Countries included in the model are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greater China (includes Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the US.

Philippines, New Zealand and Australia are top three for gender equality in APAC

The global gender gap has barely shrunk in nine years. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2014*, launched today, the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity now stands at 60% worldwide, having closed by 4% from 56% in 2006 when the World Economic Forum (WEF) first started measuring it. With all else remaining equal, it will take 81 years for the world to close this gap completely, the organisation said.

“Achieving gender equality is obviously necessary for economic reasons. Only those economies who have full access to all their talent will remain competitive and will prosper. But even more important, gender equality is a matter of justice. As humanity, we also have the obligation to ensure a balanced set of values,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF.

The WEF points out that healthy and educated women are likely to have healthier and more educated children, creating a virtuous cycle for any community or country. When the number of women involved in political decision-making reaches a critical mass, their decisions – which take into account the needs of a wider segment of society – lead to more inclusive results. Companies that recruit and retain women, and ensure that they attain leadership positions, outperform those that do not. 

The report, an initiative by the Gender Parity Programme, measures the gender gap in 142 countries, and says it is narrowest in terms of health and survival. "This gap stands at 96% globally, with 35 countries having closed the gap entirely," said the WEF in a statement. Three countries closed the gap in the past 12 months. 

The gap for educational attainment is the next narrowest, at 94% globally, and 25 countries have closed the gap entirely. The gap for political empowerment, meanwhile, is only at 21%, but has seen the most improvement since 2006. 

The WEF notes that the trends are not always positive. Nearly 30% of the countries covered have wider education gaps than they did nine years ago, and over 40% of countries have wider health and survival gaps than they did nine years ago, the organisation said.

In Asia and the Pacific, the Philippines remains the region’s highest-ranked country (no. 9), followed by New Zealand (no. 13) and Australia (no. 24). Only one other nation, Mongolia (no. 42), is in the top 50. Singapore, the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos and Thailand come next in 59th, 60th and 61st place, respectively. Japan has gone up one place to 104th; China has fallen 18 places to 87th, largely due to its very low sex ratio at birth; and India is now the lowest-ranked BRICS nation at 114th. India is also one of the few countries where female labour force participation is shrinking.

In the Middle East and North Africa, Kuwait, at 113rd, is the highest-placed country in the region, after making significant gains in overall income, including for women. The UAE, at 115th, second highest-ranked. It is lower in the rankings but has shown major improvement relative to its past performance on economic and political participation. The lowest-ranked country in the index, Yemen, at 142nd, has remained at the bottom of the index since 2006; but it has significantly improved relative to its own past scores.

“Much of the progress on gender equality over the last 10 years has come from more women entering politics and the workforce. While more women and more men have joined the workforce over the last decade, more women than men entered the labour force in 49 countries. And in the case of politics, globally, there are now 26% more female parliamentarians and 50% more female ministers than nine years ago. These are far-reaching changes – for economies and national cultures, however it is clear that much work still remains to be done, and that the pace of change must in some areas be accelerated, ” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of the Gender Parity Programme at the WEF and lead author of the report.

Key findings for Asia Pacific and the Middle East include:

The most improved country relative to its starting point nine years ago for economic participation and opportunity is Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates for political empowerment. In absolute terms, the most improved country is Nepal for educational attainment.

Within the economic participation category, Nepal was one of the countries globally which had the most absolute gain in terms of increased rates of female labour force participation. Kuwait and Singapore have seen the largest absolute gains on women’s income.

The countries with the most losses relative to their past performance are: Jordan on economic participation, and India on health. 

The least-improved countries in absolute terms are: India for health and survival, and Sri Lanka for political empowerment.

Read the full report here. 

*The Global Gender Gap Index ranks 142 countries on the gap between women and men on health, education, economic and political indicators. It aims to understand whether countries are distributing their resources and opportunities equitably between women and men, irrespective of their overall income levels. The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas:

• Economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation and leadership
• Education – access to basic and higher levels of education
• Political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures
• Health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio

Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap that has been closed between women and men, and allow countries to compare their current performance relative to their past performance. In addition, the rankings allow for comparisons between countries. Thirteen out of the 14 variables used to create the index are from publicly available hard data indicators from international organisations such as the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organization.

The more targeted the mobile advertisement, the more it earns

Smaato has found that in China, the advertising is most successful in the shopping, e-commerce, communication and technology categories, which boasted eCPM* highs of US$0.30 in Q1. 

In terms of mobile real-time bidding (RTB) ad spend, entertainment (30%) and games (22%) emerged as the top two categories in the country for the first quarter.

Smaato Chief Strategy Officer Ajitpal Pannu shared that monetisation and brand spend were driven higher when key parameters were passed globally to advertising partners.
 
eCPMs increased by up to 321% when location and device ID are included in a bid request, and increased more than 150% when gender and age range data were included.

According to Gartner**, global mobile advertising spending is forecast to reach US$18 billion in 2014, up from an estimated US$13.1 billion in 2013. Asia Pacific markets  have been generally receptive to mobile advertising – nine in 10 of smartphone users in China and 87% of smartphone owners in India have clicked on mobile advertisements in December 2013***. 

Source: Smaato Ad Exchange Global Mobile RTB Insights Q1 2014

*eCPM is a performance measure for advertisements that is calculated by dividing total earnings by the total number of impressions, multiplied by 1,000. 

**Gartner says mobile advertising spending will reach $18 Billion in 2014, January 21 2014

***The Asian Mobile Consumer Decoded

Corporate India struggling to find women candidates for jobs

MyParichay, a Facebook-based recruitment platform, says social recruiting is now a necessity, with nine in 10 recruiters believing that a social media based hiring tool will give them a competitive advantage in gender diversity hiring.

Source: MyParichay

According to a pan-India survey conducted by the company, 85% of Indian companies surveyed mentioned that diversity is crucial to fostering innovation in the workplace. Three in four recruiters are struggling to find qualified women candidates to support gender diversity goals set by their leadership, MyParichay said, and attribute the challenge to a lack of specialised hiring tools. 

"Corporate India is looking for ways to tackle the challenges faced in gender diversity hiring," said Ranjan Sinha, Co-founder and Chairman of MyParichay. "This survey validates our thesis that social recruiting has become an essential element of today's corporate recruiting strategy and will continue to play a pivotal role in the future. MyParichay will continue innovate and bring products to market to support the goals of business leaders and HR executives."
 
Some of the key findings from the survey are:

Hiring

• Nine in 10 recruiters believe a Facebook-based hiring tool will give them a competitive advantage in gender diversity hiring, since most of the users in India are on Facebook. Currently 90 million internet users are active on Facebook.
• Companies are looking for specialised tools to help them with gender diversity hiring goals.
• Nine in 10 companies will adopt tools that allow them to target and connect with qualified women professionals.
• Only two in 10 companies have specialised tools that allow them to promote gender diversity hiring.

Branding

• Less than half the companies plan and execute brand campaigns to promote gender diversity goals.
• Four out of 10 companies have employer branding plans to promote gender diversity and hiring.

*Conducted in March 2014, MyParichay's survey polled 100 HR and recruitment professionals across various cities in India. MyParichay's Gender Diversity Hiring survey is a bi-annual survey on gender balance and diversity.

Men and women react to office temperatures differently: Andrews Sykes

A survey in the UK has found that less than a quarter of office workers find the temperature in their office comfortable, with more than a third suggesting they take at least 10 minutes out of work each day due to temperature alone. 

One Poll surveyed 2,000 people on behalf of heating and ventilation specialists Andrews Sykes in a bid to discover how much the temperature affected workplace efficiency and output. The results suggest that around 2% of office hours are wasted due to the temperature alone*.

• Only 24% agreed that their office was an ideal temperature for working throughout the year.
• Women wasted an average of 33% more time (around 9 minutes, compared to 6.5) than men trying to acclimatise themselves to inadequate office conditions.
•  70% of women have needed to bring in additional clothing to the office to keep warm, and 50% resorted to excessive cups of tea, while fewer men; 44% and 28% respectively, needed warm clothing or a hot drink.
• Surprisingly, nearly 10% of women have resorted to bringing in a hot water bottle to work.

The ramifications of this are larger than may be expected: 29% of people surveyed estimate they spend between 10 and 30 minutes each workday not working due to an uncomfortable office temperature.  A surprising 6% believe they spend more than half an hour each day not working well for this reason.
This means that an office of 100 people will have at least 8 hours wasted each day, due to the temperature alone. The full figure could be more like 18 hours - the equivalent of more than 2% of staff members never turning up to work.

Helen Pedder, Head of HR for ClearSky HR, said there are various steps that an employer can take to prevent a dip in productivity and performance. "Relaxing dress code requirements where appropriate and providing heating and/or cooling devices are effective methods that help to regulate thermal comfort," she said.

Some further findings:

• 27% of women have complained to management about the temperature, compared with 17% of men
• 48% of women have complained to a colleague about the temperature, compared with 31% of men

*Assuming a 228-day working year.

Telling gender from Facebook posts

Researchers have found that it is possible to predict gender and age purely from Facebook status messages. A September 2013 study published in research journal Plos One says that there are clear differences in the way males and females use language in social media. Age and location can also affect the choice of words, researchers said in the report, titled Personality, Gender, and Age in the Language of Social Media: The Open-Vocabulary Approach.

Singapore bank DBS' lucky red packets

Females are more likely to describe emotions with words like "love", "wonderful", "excited", and use "I" while males are more likely to swear, talk about electronic games and sports, said researchers H. Andrew Schwartz, Johannes Eichstaedt, Margaret Kern, Lukasz Dziurzynski, Stephanie Ramones, Megha Agrawal, Achal Shah, Michael Kosinski,  David Stillwell, Martin Seligman, and Lyle Ungar, all from the University of Pennsylvania except Kosinski, who is from the University of Cambridge. 
 
Word clouds created by researchers show that feminine status messages are about being excited about tomorrow, how cute puppies and babies are, feelings about the other half, or concerning family members. The masculine ones are about battles, football, Xbox, and the government. 

Areas to be explored further include investigating whether emotionally stable individuals indeed spend time writing about enjoyable social activities that may foster greater emotional stability, such as ‘sports’, ‘vacation’, ‘beach’, team’, or if introverts are actually interested in Japanese media as indicated by the research, ‘anime’, ‘manga’, ‘japanese’, and Japanese style emoticons: ˆ_ˆ predominating. 

The researchers used approximately 19 million Facebook status updates written by 136,000 participants that had been shared as part of  voluntary permission given through the My Personality application. The actual users studied had to use English as a primary language, have written at least 1,000 words in their status updates, and under 65 years old. This resulted in 74,941 volunteers, and 309 million words across 15.4 million status updates studied. 
  
The full study can be viewed here.