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The record · 19 September 2026

Women are 45% of Japan’s workers and 14% of its managers. In the Philippines they are a larger share of managers than of workers.

Eighteen economies, two shares each: women among the people a labour force survey classes as senior and middle managers, and women among everyone in work, from the same survey in the same year. Not pay, not boardrooms, and one year per country. Everything below is checkable against the live market.

· 7 min read

14.5%of Japan’s senior and middle managers were women in 2023, against 45.2% of its employed, the third lowest ratio of 115 countries
43.5%of managers in the Philippines were women in 2024, more than their 40.9% of the employed
94of the 115 countries have a smaller share of women among managers than among the employed. The median ratio is 0.79

Forty-five in a hundred workers, fourteen in a hundred managers

In their latest reported year, women were 45.2% of Japan’s employed and 14.5% of its senior and middle managers; in the Philippines they were 40.9% of the employed and 43.5% of the managers. Japan ranks 111th of 115 countries by women’s share of managers, the Philippines 19th. The table sets the two among the other economies this desk publishes in, plus the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The shares run from one end of the scale to the other. Women are at least half of senior and middle managers in six of the 115 countries and under a fifth in ten; the median country sits at 34.9%. The Bahamas, at 57.8%, report the highest share and Bangladesh, at 7.2%, the lowest, though women are 33.1% of Bangladesh’s employed. Among the eighteen, the United States is highest, at 44.1%.

Set against their share of the workforce, women are under-represented in management almost everywhere. In 94 of the 115 countries their share of managers is smaller than their share of the employed, and the median ratio of the two is 0.79. Japan’s is 0.32, the third lowest, after Bangladesh at 0.22 and Angola; India’s is 0.38 and Pakistan’s 0.40. In 21 countries the ratio is above one, the Philippines among them at 1.06; Egypt, at 0.98, is close to parity, with women about 22% of both.

Provenance: Source
Women’s share of senior and middle managers and of all employed persons aged 15 and over, from the same survey and year, latest year reported, for eighteen economies, with the ratio of the first to the second. Sorted by the share of managers, highest first. The rank is by that share, out of the 115 countries reporting both.
EconomyYearWomen, % of managersWomen, % of employedRatioRank of 115
United States202544.1%47.1%0.9416
Philippines202443.5%40.9%1.0619
Poland202540.6%46.2%0.8829
United Kingdom202540.5%48.6%0.8330
France202438.7%48.8%0.7938
Brazil202538.7%43.4%0.8939
Portugal202438.7%49.3%0.7840
Spain202437.0%46.4%0.8048
Thailand202534.5%46.3%0.7560
Germany202427.7%46.8%0.5982
Viet Nam202426.1%48.0%0.5489
Indonesia202324.8%39.2%0.6396
Egypt202422.3%22.7%0.98101
Türkiye202521.7%33.1%0.66102
Japan202314.5%45.2%0.32111
India202511.9%31.2%0.38113
Pakistan20259.6%24.2%0.40114
Bangladesh20247.2%33.1%0.22115

Income does not close the gap

Across the 115, women’s share of managers moves with income only weakly, at plus 0.27 with log GDP per person, and the ratio to their share of the employed hardly at all, at plus 0.10. Where women hold more of the jobs, they do not reliably hold more of the management: the two shares correlate at plus 0.27. Viet Nam makes the point, with women 48.0% of the employed and 26.1% of the managers.

Sorted into income thirds, the richest third is below parity in 36 of its 39 countries, the poorest in 30 of 38 and the middle in 28 of 38. The mean ratio is 0.75 in the poorest third, 0.87 in the middle and 0.77 in the richest: it is the middle of the income scale, not the top, that comes closest to parity.

Japan and the Philippines sit on opposite sides of that finding. Japan’s income per person is 4.6 times the Philippines’, and it is in the richest third; the Philippines is in the poorest. Among rich countries the ratio still ranges widely: 0.32 in Japan, 0.59 in Germany, 0.94 in the United States.

Provenance: SourceWhat each share counts
  1. THE MANAGERS are the people a labour force survey classes in three groups of the international classification of occupations (ISCO-08 11, 12 and 13): chief executives, senior officials and legislators; administrative and commercial managers; production and specialised services managers. Hospitality, retail and other services managers (group 14) are left out.
  2. THE BENCHMARK is women’s share of every employed person aged 15 and over, from the same survey in the same year. The ratio divides the first share by the second: 1 means women are as present among managers as among workers, 0.5 half as present.
  3. BOTH ARE HEADCOUNTS. A woman running a team of five and a man running a ministry count once each. Neither share says anything about pay, about seniority within management, or about boards.

So Japan’s 14.5% does not say that 14 companies in a hundred are led by women, nor what managers earn: it says that 14.5 in a hundred people the survey classes as senior or middle managers are women, where women are 45.2 in a hundred of all the employed. And the Philippines’ ratio above one says women are a larger share of managers than of workers there, not that they are paid more or promoted faster.

Two shares from one survey, and a reading that loses what each one counts says something the source does not.

What the share does not say

It does not say who runs the largest companies. Senior and middle management in this measure is three groups of the international classification of occupations: chief executives, senior officials and legislators; administrative and commercial managers; production and specialised services managers. A woman running a team of five and a man running a ministry count once each, and boards are not in it.

It does not say what managers earn, nor that anything rose or fell. Pay is not in these figures, and each country appears once, in its own latest year, 2022 to 2025. Nothing here compares a country with itself.

And it names no cause and no verdict. Law, quotas, childcare, working hours, schooling and custom all sit behind these figures, and none of them is measured here; so nothing here says why Japan’s ratio is low or the Philippines’ is high.

What the data establishes

  • In their latest reported year, women were 14.5% of Japan’s senior and middle managers and 45.2% of its employed (2023), a ratio of 0.32, the third lowest of 115 countries; in the Philippines, 43.5% of the managers and 40.9% of the employed (2024), a ratio of 1.06.
  • Across the 115, the median share of women among managers is 34.9%; six countries are at 50% or more and ten under 20%; the range runs from 7.2% in Bangladesh to 57.8% in the Bahamas.
  • In 94 of the 115, women’s share of managers is smaller than their share of the employed; the median ratio is 0.79, and 21 countries are above one.
  • The share of managers correlates at plus 0.27 with log income and the ratio at plus 0.10; the richest third of countries is below parity in 36 of 39, the poorest in 30 of 38 and the middle in 28 of 38, with mean ratios of 0.77, 0.75 and 0.87.

What it does not

  • That women managers are paid less or more. Pay is not in these figures.
  • Anything about boards or chief executives alone. Management here is a survey category covering three occupational groups.
  • That any share rose or fell. One year per country, and different years across countries: nothing here is a trend.
  • Any cause, including law, quotas, childcare, working hours, schooling or custom. None of them is measured here.
  • Anything about South Korea, China or Morocco, which do not report this series, or about the shares of small economies, where management is a small sample.

Method

  1. Two measures from one survey. ILOSTAT dataflow DF_SDG_0552_NOC_RT, SDG indicator 5.5.2, proportion of women in senior and middle management positions, and DF_EMP_TEMP_SEX_AGE_NB, employment by sex, all persons aged 15 and over, both read through the ILO SDMX API on 19 September 2026. For each country the latest year from 2022 to 2025 in which both come from the same survey is used; every figure is a national labour force or household survey harmonised by the ILO.
  2. AGGREGATES ARE NOT COUNTRIES. Regions and income groups were removed by keeping only codes in the World Bank’s country list, leaving 117 countries with a management share since 2022, and 115 with an employment figure from the same survey in the same year: 50 whose latest year is 2024, 44 with 2025, 11 with 2023 and 10 with 2022. Every rank and count is out of the 115. South Korea, China and Morocco do not report this series, which is why the exhibit holds thirteen of this desk’s sixteen markets and five other economies.
  3. The median is the 58th of the 115 values, 34.88%, shown as 34.9%. The ratio is the share of managers divided by the share of the employed, in the same country and year; its median is 0.793, shown as 0.79, and the median gap between the two shares is 9.5 points. Six countries are at 50% or more and ten under 20%; in 94 the ratio is below one and in 21 above.
  4. The correlations are Pearson coefficients across the 115 between the share of managers, and the ratio, and the natural logarithm of GDP per capita at PPP (World Bank NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD, 2024); and between the share of managers and the share of the employed. The income thirds cut the 115 at about 12,000 and 36,000 dollars; each third’s ratio is the unweighted mean of its members. They describe how the figures sit together across countries, not how any country moved.
  5. Management is a small group in a household survey, and in small economies its share can swing between years: Montenegro reads 22.7% in 2023 and 48.1% in 2024. The piece quotes no figure that rests on such a sample. Rounding is done once, at display: Japan’s ratio is 0.320 from 14.494 and 45.241, and its income per person is 4.6 times the Philippines’, 47,480 against 10,378 dollars.

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