Spear’s, the British wealth magazine, reports that only 10 per cent of the world’s multimillionaires are female. Its worldwide survey, conducted along with high-net-worth research firm WealthInsight, also found that Canada is slightly behind the global norm: Just 9.2 per cent of Canadian multimillionaires are women.
The most unequal country in the world is Japan, where only 3.7 per cent of multimillionaires are women, followed closely by Saudi Arabia, with just 3.8 per cent. But also in the top 10 are some developed countries where we might have expected a more progressive culture: The Netherlands is fifth-worst, with women making up 5.9 per cent of its multimillionaires; Belgium is sixth, with 6 per cent; and New Zealand is seventh, with 6.3 per cent.
The best country for equality among the rich is Portugal, where 23.8 per cent of multimillionaires are women. Next is the Philippines, with 21 per cent, and Peru, with 18.3 per cent. Curiously, the list of top-10 most-equal countries is dominated by emerging markets.
“It certainly seems that Asia is leading the way in gender equality, perhaps reflecting emerging markets whose developing, increasing wealthy economies are not bound by old forms of gender discrimination in business,” said Spear’s editor Josh Spero. |
