THE RULES of recruitment are changing as professionals are no longer choosing employers based on compensation alone. Increasingly, they are evaluating organizations through a broader lens: leadership diversity, workplace culture, and whether gender equality is embedded into strategy — not just written into policy manuals. For many candidates, especially senior-level hires, representation at the top matters as much as remuneration.
According to the Grant Thornton Women in Business 2026 report, 97.7% of Philippine businesses say they personally consider gender equality initiatives within a company, while 71.6% identify it as a priority. These figures reflect a significant shift in mindset: diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are strategic considerations influencing career decisions and corporate growth.
The data reveals a striking trend. Nearly a quarter of businesses report that potential hires have asked about the gender balance of their senior management team or requested evidence of a commitment to programs that increase or improve gender diversity during recruitment.
In fact, 40.9% of businesses now report candidates asking about gender balance, marking up to 10.2 percentage points from last year, the biggest rise among all external sources.
This signals a clear message: top talent is conducting its own due diligence. Candidates want to know whether opportunities for advancement are equitable. They want to see whether leadership pathways are genuinely accessible as they seek proof than promises.
Interestingly, recent female senior hires who joined Philippine firms within the past six months came from companies with fewer than 50 employees. This suggests that women leaders are actively seeking platforms where growth pathways are clearer, leadership is visible, and inclusion is measurable.
At P&A Grant Thornton, these findings resonate with what the firm is experiencing.
“We’re seeing candidates focus more on culture aside from numbers,” said Abe Pelayo, People and Culture Group Director of P&A Grant Thornton. “They want to know if the workplace is fair, if people are treated consistently, and if opportunities are genuinely open to everyone. For many of them, an unbiased and supportive environment matters just as much as compensation.
However, there is still work to do in terms of placing women in senior roles. The firm’s women represent 70.4% at the junior level compared to 31% at the partner level. While this reflects encouraging participation of women in the workforce pipeline, it also highlights the work still needed to ensure stronger representation at the highest levels of leadership.
On a positive note, across the Philippines, the percentage of women in senior management has increased by 1.5 percentage points to 44.5%. This is a positive development and signals forward momentum. However, progress at a measured pace underscores the importance of sustained and visible action.
“Leadership diversity directly impacts business resilience and decision-making,” says Romualdo V. Murcia III, chairman and managing partner of P&A Grant Thornton. “In today’s competitive talent environment, organizations that visibly embed gender equality into their strategy are better positioned to attract and retain high-performing leaders. Commitment must translate into measurable outcomes.”
Representation plays a powerful role in aspiration. When women see female leaders who they can relate to, they believe advancement is possible. When future talent sees gender equality integrated into corporate strategy, they are more likely to join and remain.
The research further shows that recent female senior appointments were equally split between internal promotions and external hires. This balance shows two important realities that organizations must build strong internal pipelines while also remaining attractive to experienced leaders in the market.
Yet there are warning signs. Only 8% of businesses plan to relax or have already relaxed some of their gender equality initiatives. While this figure may seem small, any rollback risks sending the wrong signal at a time when both talent and investment are increasingly scarce.
Encouragingly, 33.3% remain firmly committed and plan to implement new gender equality initiatives. This continued investment reflects an understanding that DE&I is not a short-term campaign but a long-term business imperative.
While the Philippines shows encouraging progress, significant room for improvement remains particularly in translating workforce participation into senior leadership representation.
As commitments to DE&I increasingly influence where senior leaders choose to work, large organizations must move beyond declarations and ensure accountability, transparency, and measurable outcomes.
In a market where top talent has choices, organizations that make inclusion visible and measurable will shape the future of leadership.
Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash
