The report launched by the by the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative shows that women continue to be on the fringes of leadership in Fiji and the Pacific.

According to PSDI Economic Empowerment of Women Expert, Sarah Boxall the report measured women’s representation in all business leadership positions and Fiji sits below the Pacific regional average.

Boxall highlights that Fiji is averages in terms of women’s representation in business leadership.

“This chart here shows the 2021 data in red and the 2024 data in blue. And it also has the regional averages for each study sample. So with the proportion of women directors increasing from 20% to 25% between 2021 and 2024, we also see that the proportion of women CEOs increased from 10% to 13%.”

She states that the proportion of boards with no women directors dropped from 27% to 20% which shows that we are heading in the right direction.

Meanwhile, the proportion of boards with 30% or greater increased from 22% to 40%.

Boxall emphasizes that the survey reveals that 90% of the professional women surveyed were tertiary educated, with 36% holding postgraduate qualification.