(From left) Rejina, Dzuleira, Chua and George.
THERE is now greater awareness of gender, diversity and inclusion issues in corporate Malaysia, with more men leaning into the discussions and willing to play vital roles in supporting women.
Championing ideals such as unity must also mean acknowledging the role of women, who comprise half the population, and their contributions in the workplace.
More importantly, it means shifting mindsets and shaping institutions to enable capable women to move up the corporate ladder.
This is not as easy as it may seem: While women have made strides in corporate Malaysia through their representation on the boards of public-listed companies or in decision-making positions, Grant Thornton’s “Women in Business Report” released in March shows that the journey is still a challenging one.
The report reveals a decline in the number of women holding senior management roles in the country. This can have a negative impact, as fewer women senior managers mean fewer choices to fill board roles.
The findings show that the number of women in such roles dropped to 36.2% this year from 39.6% last year and 40.4% in 2023. The number of businesses without a woman in their senior management has risen to 9.3% in 2025 from just 2.8% last year.
Despite the overall decline, there were some increases in key leadership positions – notably, in chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) roles, which rose by 4.2 percentage points to 16.3%.
While the advance of women CEOs is a good sign, as this is a stepping stone to a board seat of a listed company if they have not already achieved it, the report’s findings also show that 46.5% of businesses disclosed a decline in the number of women chief financial officers (CFOs), down from 54.2% last year, and 18.6% of businesses revealed a drop in the number of women chief operating officers (COOs) from 21.5% last year.
Besides CEO roles, CFO and chief marketing officer (CMO) roles have traditionally been a path towards board seats.
Rejina Rahim, adviser to the Institutional Investors Council Malaysia as well as the founder of a fintech startup, said the decline in the number of women in senior management roles directly affected public-listed companies’ board readiness.
Describing the problem as a “pipeline” issue, she said, “There are plenty of capable women but many are not given stretch opportunities, especially in profit-and-loss roles that are often the stepping stones to board positions.”
Dzuleira Abu Bakar, co-founder of a boutique corporate advisory firm and former group CEO of Mranti Corp, said capable women were no longer waiting to access top decision-making roles but instead taking steps to take control of their own destiny by starting their own ventures, becoming founders and placing themselves in the driver’s seat.
“While the numbers are still emerging, the trend is unmistakable and it’s reshaping what leadership looks like.
“Women are no longer pushing against closed doors; they’re building their own,” she said.
Jenny George, dean of University of Melbourne’s business school, emphasised how employers needed to have a comprehensive re-entry ecosystem and more inclusive, future-focused hiring strategies.
“We’re losing highly capable women who could be the very ones stepping into senior roles.”
A lot more can be done about the hiring policy in Asia, where 92% of employers do not have a recruitment strategy targeted at returning women.
Meanwhile, a Robert Walters report shows that 52% of hiring managers in Malaysia have yet to employ returning women in the past.
Culture and leadership
While much progress has been made in corporate Malaysia where women’s roles are concerned – and the business world in general since independence, when business leaders and their management teams were almost exclusively male – the old ways do not fade away easily.
“Let’s be frank – yes, cultural biases and the old boys’ network still exist in parts of corporate Malaysia.
“While some progress has been made, many board and senior management appointments are still relationship-based, not merit-based,” said Rejina.
For Dzuleira, cultural bias shapes institutional design, and institutional gaps reinforce cultural bias.
“To change this, we need both policy-level reform and a mindset shift, from how we hire, mentor, invest and build inclusive cultures to how we measure leadership and value diverse forms of expertise,” she said, citing how institutional structures are often not built to support women, especially those balancing work and caregiving.
“I’ve seen firsthand how the challenges we face are both systemic and deeply cultural. It’s not just about being the only (or a few if you’re lucky) woman in the room; it’s about constantly having to prove your capability, resilience and right to lead.”
While she believes things are slowly changing, there are still unspoken biases.
In addition, opportunities for access to funding, flexible pathways or being considered for technical leadership roles are still harder to come by.
Amy Chua, who is leading the integration of SLB (a provider of energy solutions) with ChampionX (which offers upstream and midstream oilfield and gas solutions) following SLB’s acquisition of ChampionX, said the working environment and corporate culture played a critical role in supporting and developing female leadership.
There have been positive changes over the years in Malaysia’s corporate world in terms of inclusion, gender equity and leadership diversity, and more men are engaging in these discussions as allies.
“While we’ve made progress in improving gender diversity at senior management levels, unconscious bias and persistent stereotypes continue to frame women as less capable, limiting their opportunities,” Chua said.
She added that in the Malaysian context and across much of Asia, women carry significant responsibilities in family life as they were often also primary caregivers to ageing parents or they took on added responsibilities as supportive daughters or elder siblings.
Indeed, a World Bank survey report released on July 22 showed that many women aged over 30 in the country tend to leave the workforce permanently instead of taking a career break, with care responsibilities and compliance with maternity regulations as major barriers, reinforcing Chua’s views.
“This dual burden of professional ambition and familial duty is a reality that must be acknowledged and addressed if we are to truly advance gender equity in leadership,” she said.
George believes the root of the issue lies in the “single peak” pattern of female workforce participation, with many exiting the workforce midcareer and 42% in Malaysia citing childcare as the primary reason.
When combined with outdated skills, biased hiring practices and a lack of flexible work structures, it becomes clear why the leadership pipeline thins out.
Despite high educational attainment – women make up 61% of university graduates in the country – they make up only 55.6% of the labour force compared to 82.3% for men.
George said the challenge was not about qualifications – it’s about retention and re-entry, with women in Malaysia facing significant hurdles in re-entering the workforce after career breaks. This, in turn, has significant economic implications.
“These gains – or rather, missed opportunities – highlight the necessity for comprehensive support systems and a shift in cultural and organisational attitudes, or we risk losing out on nearly half of our workforce within a matter of 10 or 15 years from when they first come on stream,” she added.
