PSE urges action on gender equality 

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) is calling to accelerate actions to advance gender equality in corporate leadership roles and employment opportunities.

The PSE yesterday joined members of the World Federation of Exchanges in hosting similar bell ringing events to raise awareness and highlight the importance of gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and the community.

“This is the eighth year that  the PSE is joining the global ring the bell initiative and we will continue to do so, because until now, there are publicly listed companies with very little or no women representation in corporate leadership,” PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said.

Monzon noted that the 2024 report by the Sustainable Stock Exchanges showed that out of the 100 largest PSE-listed firms, 10 still have an all-male board of directors.

He said this “unfortunately eclipses the improvement in PSE’s ranking from fourth to third among the five ASEAN stock exchanges in terms of women representation in the board.” 

“The PSE does recognize the value of having women in corporate leadership and giving women an environment to thrive. We will continue to advance gender equality in leadership roles and in employment opportunities,” Monzon said.

He said the PSE, for its part, has long been giving women opportunities to establish and have flourishing careers in the company. 

Monzon said that on top of having three women in the PSE’s 15-member board of directors, three of the company’s eight management committee members are women and 11 of 18 department heads are likewise women. 

Further, Monzon said that 56 percent of PSE employees are women. 

“We continue to invest in capacity building to further improve the skills of our employees. In 2023,we had 3,024 hours of training for 24 female employees. This substantially increased to 6,835 hours for 57 female employees last year. Of the PSE employees who applied for and were awarded a scholarship in our certified security specialist course for 2023-2024, seven were women and only one was male,” Monzon said. 

“In general, we continue to look for and provide opportunities for personal and professional development for all our employees,” he said.

Monzon said that the continuing call for gender equality and women empowerment is highlighted in this year’s International Women’s Day theme of accelerated action. 

He said that a World Economic Forum data shows that if the current rate of progress continues, it will take another 133 years, or in 2158, before gender parity is realized.

“Together, let us work to accelerate action for gender equality and advocate women empowerment,” Monzon said.