I USUALLY attend the annual Global Summit of Women. This is a group of women business leaders worldwide who advocate more women business leaders for better profitability, diversity and, in general, good, if not better, management. This year, the Global Summit of Women was hosted by Turkey in early June and it released a report that intrigued me.
For 36 years of its existence, the Global Summit of Women, led by Filipino American Irene Natividad, has been concerned with gender equality or diversity in boardrooms and executive suites. For this reason, over the years, Ms. Natividad has released a new report prior to each summit, usually at stock exchanges in host countries.
This year’s report focused on Women CEOs to respond to this question: does it make a difference if a woman is in charge?
They constantly survey corporations, as well as study surveys made elsewhere on the theme of gender diversity, particularly women in executive positions or in boardrooms as directors.
But first, they had to find women running the largest companies in the world. The research entailed surveying 3,222 blue chip companies globally to find only 215 (6.7 percent) had a woman chief executive officer (CEO).
Though small in number, women CEOs have tremendous impact. According to the report, when there is a woman CEO, there is usually a surge in women board members. On average, the percentage jumps to 38.3 percent from the global average of 28.7 percent. If a male CEO leaves and a female CEO takes over, board diversity usually skyrockets, showing a jump from 34.5 percent to 56.1 percent in female-held board seats. Similarly, women senior executives rise to 36.8 percent, double the average of 21 percent when a woman is in charge.
The 2027 study also showed better outcomes in women-led companies. A quarter of companies with women CEOs reached gender-equal or female-majority boards, while in senior management, 22.3 percent of companies reached 50 percent or more in those roles.
Clearly, women CEOs have a multiplier effect. They may also foster the succession of another female CEO. Hang Seng Bank, Hong Kong’s leading domestic bank which created the stock market Hang Seng Index, is a prime example. Its past female CEO Luanne Lim was succeeded by Diana Cesar, who was, in turn, recently succeeded by Lorina Cheang. It is a highly successful banking business in this tripartite female succession. Hang Seng Bank ranked first in the Top 10 List of women-led companies with the highest percentage of women directors and women in senior roles in the summit’s 2027 report.
Some decades ago, about 45 economies of the European Union implemented boardroom quotas to speed up women’s access to boards. Surprisingly, the women quota entries to boards following this rule had no impact in increasing women CEOs. It was countries without quotas that achieved a higher percentage of women CEOs (8.4 percent) compared (4.5 percent) to those with the mandates for quotas. But the quotas were not useless, they did have women CEOs within the percentage stated who were more effective in diversifying their executive teams (3.5 percent). So, while the mandated quotas had a smaller percentage of CEOs, these smaller numbers were effective in diversifying their executive teams (38 percent).
Women CEOs are not just symbolic figures but real engines of structural change. Equally important, they bring higher returns and better risk management.
Other studies have shown that companies with gender-diverse leadership were 21 percent more likely to report higher profitability during recent market volatility (Bloomberg Intelligence: Women Capital).
In stock performance, they outperformed the broader index in cumulative stock returns through 2026 (S&P Global: When Women Lead 2025).
We are not behind in this country. There is a Women Business Council composed of women CEOs and executive officers. We have seen large real estate companies and banks led by professional women CEOs as well as women CEOs who have equity in the company and both run their enterprises in the above average way for diversity, profit and efficiency.
We also have an outstanding company with the highest percentage of directors (62.5 percent), or five women out of eight board members. It also has the highest percentage of women executive officers (7 out of 13). It is Monde Nissin Corp. with Betty Ang as its CEO. It brings to fore what has already been proven that a company led by a woman CEO increases its number of women directors and executive officers regardless of company size, country or region. And the company is a success.
In spite of the above, the Global Summit of Women has concluded that women CEOs are still too few. Progress has to continue via the following:
Intentional rotation — moving women into roles in profit, and loss and operations with responsibility for them.
Early parity — ensuring gender balance at the first management level. Meaning hiring a balance between male and female applicants at the earliest stage of their careers.
Active sponsorship — formalizing mentorship and sponsorship to bridge the gender gaps in executive offices. This is a deliberate move to a practical business education.
Mobilizing boards to share information and acting on what 100 studies show — which is, that better financial performance correlates with more women in corporate leadership.
The Global Summit of Women will hold its next conference on June 10-12, 2027, in Bangkok. This time they will present among global market trends and a new report, a forum of young professional women who may be the next generation occupying executive suites, board seats and possibly, that corner office belonging to the CEO.
