Malaysia Sees Record Rise in Women Leaders in 2026

• Malaysia has the highest share of women in senior management globally at 41.9%, whereas the global average is only 32.9%.
• Companies with zero female representation in senior leadership are expected to decrease to 4.5% in 2026 from 9.3% in 2025.
• More and more, gender equality is becoming one of the criteria that Malaysian companies use to decide on hiring and investments.

Malaysia has now registered its highest-ever percentage of women holding senior management positions, highlighting how gender equality is progressively influencing talent acquisition, investor evaluations, and business outcomes.

As per Grant Thornton's Women in Business 2026 report, 41.9% of leadership roles in senior management in Malaysia are occupied by women, a substantial increase from 36.2% in 2025 and significantly higher than the world average of 32.9%.

Simultaneously, the percentage of Malaysian companies without any women in senior management has dropped by more than half, decreasing to 4.5% in 2026 from 9.3% in 2025.

Women in Malaysia still play a very significant role in key leadership positions. For example, 57.3% of women are responsible for Human Resournces functions (a big increase form 48.3% in 2025) and 48.3% of women are Chief Finance Officers (CFOS, also up from 47.2% in 2025). What is quite surprising is that 32.6% of women are Chief Commercial Officer, a jump by 6.8% points from the previous year.

Recruiting decisions are increasingly being swayed by gender equality issues. 89.9% of business leaders in Malaysia consider a company's gender equality initiatives as one of their criteria for deciding to accept a job offer, out of which 57.3% even consider it as a most important factor.

If leaders themselves insist on this during their job search, candidates at all levels will expect the same degree of openness from them.

According to 20.2% (increased from 10.5% in 2025) of companies, potential employees are now raising the issue of the gender composition of a company's senior management team or its dedication to enhancing gender diversity, which represents a rise of 9.7pp compared to last year.

Around two-thirds of recent female senior hires in mid-market companies were internal promotions which means that the most important thing is to create conditions that result in employees not only staying but also advancing.

Gender-balanced leadership is increasingly becoming a decision-making criterion for investors when they choose to provide funding to a company.