Are women the new masters of the universe?

There’s hope for Filipino men, after all.

In a country where little boys who are waited on hand and foot grow up to be men who expect to be waited on hand and foot, I was beginning to wonder. We’ve had two female Presidents, yes, but a predominantly male military that takes orders from a woman about as well as a rebellious teenager being told to clean his room. We control the purse strings, but do we control the typically feckless male heartstrings? More importantly, do Filipinas get the R-E-S-P-E-C-T they deserve for the precarious juggling act they pull off every day?

Apparently, yes.

In the Philippines, women have almost achieved equality with men, according to the MasterIndex of Women’s Advancement (MiWA). A yearly study conducted by MasterCard International, MiWA measures the socioeconomic level of women in relation to men using demographic data (labor participation and tertiary education), plus perceptions gleaned from interviews ("Do you hold a managerial position? Do you earn above the median income?")

Pinoy males, who composed half of the respondents, thought that Filipinas were pulling their weight quite nicely in the workplace and bringing home significant bacon.

MiWA’s results, culled from 5,000 women and men in 13 Asia-Pacific countries, were recently presented at Singapore’s Grand Hyatt hotel by Georgette Tan, MasterCard International’s vice president of communications in the Asia-Pacific, together with guest speakers Pam Woodall and Dr. Sharon Siddique. Woodall, the economics editor of The Economist, talked about "Womenomics: The increasing importance of women as drivers of global growth," while Siddique, a development sociologist and leading expert on ethnicity and Islam with 30 years of applied research under her belt, spoke on "Women at the top: Bumping the glass ceiling."

Here, the highlights of this year’s MasterIndex of Women’s Advancement:

• Women are nearing parity with men in the Philippines, Australia and Thailand. Unlike other studies, MiWA doesn’t describe or define the terms. "We let women’s own perceptions of themselves speak, whether women thought they were in managerial positions and also if they were earning above the median income… ‘I think, therefore I am,’" says Tan.

• Thailand and the Philippines have the highest levels of females in tertiary education. Female literacy in Thailand is virtually 100 percent in urban areas, and around 90 percent in rural areas. In tertiary education, Thai women outperform Thai men.

In the Philippines, female literacy is high, with close to 95 percent of women literate. The secondary school enrolment rate is also high, at 85 percent. These high literacy and education levels, however, have not translated into a high labor force participation rate. Only about half of women work, thanks to the heavy childbearing responsibilities of marrying young and having children almost right away.

Other markets with high levels of tertiary-educated women are Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

• Women in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore are nearest to equality in terms of perceptions of being in managerial positions. The Philippines saw the biggest jump in women who thought themselves managers. There’s a big shift in perception as well: last year Filipinos thought there were less female managers than male; this year they think there are more female managers than male.

• Singapore saw the greatest jump in its MIWA score, followed by Australia and Korea. The number of Singaporean women in managerial positions and earning above-median incomes jumped significantly from last year.

• Emerging markets Vietnam, China, Thailand have the highest level of female participation in the labor force. Developing countries have greater numbers of working women (two-thirds to three-fourths of whom work in textiles and clothing). "In emerging East Asian countries, for every 100 men there are 83 women working," notes Woodall. "In more traditional South Asian countries like India, only half the women work, while in economic-force China, you have 86 women working for every 100 men."

A higher labor participation rate equals higher fertility rates. The lowest rates for both are in Italy. Surprisingly, a lower birth rate equates with the traditional attitude that "a woman’s place is in the home."

• Women in China, Singapore and Malaysia near equality in their perceptions about earning above-median income. Women in China feel the most confident of their earning capacities, followed by Singapore, then Malaysia. Interestingly, scores for China jumped by 22 points from last year, while Singapore’s score more than doubled. Women At The Top: Bumping The Glass Ceiling

Dr. Sharon Siddique, co-founder of Sreekumar.Siddique & Co., a regional research consulting company based in Singapore, observed that:

• More women are living longer and contributing to the economy. While women generally outlive men by 10 years, Japan is the real leader in longevity, with the most women over 60. The oldest market in the world, Japan has an average age of 42 to 48. They also boast 25,606 centenarians, 85 percent of whom are women.

• Fertility declines with literacy. More well-educated women give birth later, and to fewer children.

• The proportion of women in parliament is highest in Vietnam, where 27 percent are in the lower house.

Siddique tackled the fascinating question of why so many of the top female political leaders in Asia are women:

"A lot of people dismiss it as the ‘wife, widow, sister, daughter syndrome,’ but I think it’s more complicated than that. Yes, almost all the women in Asia have some family connection with a leader, but you could easily have been an assassinated leader who was followed by a son rather than a daughter." So what is it that propels women to the top?

"Part of it is cultural in terms of equality. Maybe matriarchy is a bit of a strong term, but equality – the idea that women can participate in political life – is one. Historically also, if you look at Southeast Asia’s history, there’s been a long history of queens and traditional female leaders, so it’s not as if it’s suddenly new and modern," says Siddique.

"Another reason is they support democracy. Perhaps with the exception of Indira Gandhi, every other woman political leader, including those in the Philippines, have been very supportive of the democratic process."

• In the US, women dominate managerial and professional positions. But women form only a small minority at the top, even in the US. In Fortune 500 companies, only 1.6 percent of CEOs are women. A mere 5.2 percent are top earners, while only 12.4 percent are board directors. Japan has the lowest female representation on company boards, with 0.2 percent.

"The glass ceiling is firmly in place," says Siddique.

• New Zealand and Australia have the lowest gender gaps in Asia. New Zealand, headed by Prime Minister Helen Clark, is No. 1 in political empowerment. Thailand is No. 1 in economic participation, with China not far behind.

"Families count a lot in Asia," notes Siddique. "Women are less pushy, not as competitive, and they’re not the ones setting the rules. They need role models to encourage them."

• In the US, women have the same priorities as a CEO, but rank them differently. A CEO’s first priority is "successfully managing others" followed by "exceeding performance expectations." For a woman it was the other way around, with "exceeding performance expectations" coming first.

What makes a top woman in Asia? "Be a global mover and shaker, a player," advises Siddique. "Wall Street Journal’s nine top women are from China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, and India, which also happen to be the economic powerhouses of the Asia-Pacific region. Many are in new industries like telecommunications, finance, investment, and have double degrees like MBAs."

For more information, MasterCard has launched Holding Up Half of the Sky: The New Women Consumers of Asia by Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, its first book in a series on Asian consumers, examining the rising power of women in 11 markets. Other forthcoming titles in the series are The Glittering Silver Market: The Rise of Elderly Consumers in Asia, Tomorrow Belongs to Me: Power of the Youth Market in Asia, and Succeeding Like Success: The Elite Consumers of Asia.