Some 25 per cent of CEOs or board directors in Viet Nam are women, surpassing the figures for Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Bloomberg cited a report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as saying women hold 14 per cent of CEO or board level positions in Malaysia and 10 per cent in Singapore. Indonesia came in last among the four countries, at 6 per cent.

More Vietnamese women, compared with their Singaporean and Malaysian peers, look for a promotion, the BCG report said after surveying more than 2,000 employees. Malaysia has the largest proportion of female respondents who intend to stay in their current roles.

"Women in Viet Nam lead or own many SMEs and large enterprises which provides positive, visible and diverse role models to other women," Ian Grundy of Switzerland-based employment firm Adecco Group AG, the world’s largest provider of temporary workers, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.

Emerging countries outperform developed countries in Asia in women’s representation on company boards, Grundy noted. Viet Nam’s progress in gender diversity is partly due to measures by the Government and businesses to foster female talent, he said.

"Having said that, it is important to remember that Southeast Asia still lags behind Europe and North America," Grundy added.

According to another study by Deloitte in June 2017, 17.6 per cent of board members in a survey of 50 Vietnamese companies were women -- more than double Asia’s average of 7.8 per cent. — VNS