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Sydney, 8 March 2007 - Australian women's perception of their place in the workforce, in particular their views on their position and earnings, has declined significantly over the last 12 months, according to the MasterIndex™ of Women's Advancement released today by MasterCard Worldwide.

Australian women's overall perception of their advancement verses men's has dropped from 89.07 (where 100 equals equality with men) to 76.18 in the last year, despite Australian women reaching parity to men in the area of labour force participation (81.67).

The study found that women's perception in their position, classified as 'managerial' in status, has declined from 90.67 to 55.13, while their perception that they earn at least the median income has dropped 15.41 to 66.20 in composite score.

Commenting on the results Georgette Tan, vice president, Communications, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide said: "It is somewhat surprising that Australian women's perception towards career advancement has declined, given the strength of the Australian economy and the demand for workers in almost all sectors. One possible explanation is that the resources boom has been at the heart of Australia's economic growth over the last 12 months. This may have had an impact as it has fuelled wages and employment in mining and engineering, particularly in Western Australia, driving up salaries and opportunities in this predominantly male dominated sector.

"Meanwhile a slowdown has been predicated for some east coast economies, especially in New South Wales, which have a higher concentration of female workers. Therefore these women may be feeling that there are more limited opportunities for career advancement." said Tan.

In contrast the study found Australian women are seen to be superior in higher education participation, with the index weighted towards gender inequality in their favour (101.74).

The region as a whole showed that women's socio-economic advancement dropped slightly from a score of 76.11 in 2006 to 72.09 in 2007. While composite scores in the area of labor force participation and tertiary education increased somewhat from 2006, the score for managerial positions saw a significant dip (from 70.68 in 2006 to 56.23 in 2007). The drop in score was a result of a slight dip in women's perceptions coupled with a surge in optimism from men towards being in managerial positions. The score for above median income was 67.87.

Overall, the score for each of the 13 markets ranged from 46.92 to 89.85. New Zealand took the lead this year with a score of 89.85, pushing the Philippines (87.43 compared to 90.90 a year ago) to the second spot. This was closely followed by Taiwan (82.19 compared to 72.32 a year ago).

South-East Asian markets showed a decline in index scores when compared to the rest of Asia/Pacific. Of six markets in South-East Asia¹, five showed a decline in their composite scores compared to two markets in 2006. Vietnam was an exception in South-East Asia, seeing an improvement in its score (72.18 when compared to 70.57 a year ago).

"While women continue to close the gap in achieving parity with men in the areas of labor force participation and tertiary education, the self-perception of women when it comes to the subjective factors of the index - managerial positions and above median income - have dipped slightly," said Tan.

"As women continue to enter the labor force and seek tertiary education, it opens up new avenues for employment and their career. Despite positive economic growth and the tightening of labor market conditions, women still perceive themselves as not getting the same opportunities as men when it comes to managerial positions and median income. This, combined with the improving sentiments of men in a rosy economic environment, negatively affects the scores pertaining to the self-perception of women, resulting in a lower MasterIndex of Women’s Advancement score for certain markets."

In the area of tertiary education, women in New Zealand (129.24), the Philippines (120.81), Thailand (118.89) and Australia (101.74) continued to take the lead in favor of females. Another interesting finding was the strengthening of Taiwanese women's perception in earning above median income, achieving a score of 113.16 from 73.53 a year ago.

Other key findings included:

• As compared to men, women in eleven markets in Asia/Pacific were more moderate in their perceptions towards being in managerial positions. This led to a drop in the scores of Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam from last year.
• Women's participation in the labor force came close to that of men in Vietnam (99.77), China (83.64), New Zealand (83.13), Thailand (82.66) and Australia (81.67).
• Women in seven of the Asia/Pacific markets - Australia, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand - were less confident of their earning capabilities compared to a year ago.
• In the area of tertiary education, markets in which women were closing the gap to men in the area of education were Taiwan (91.44), Hong Kong (89.80), Singapore (85.88) and China (81.65).

MasterCard has devoted extensive resources to developing a deeper understating of the women's segment in Asia/Pacific. The findings from this third MasterIndex of Women's Advancement highlights how there is still much to be done in terms of improving women's self-perceptions.

MasterCard is committed to empowering women through initiatives such as its U21 Global Scholarship for Women in Travel and Tourism, which was launched in 2006 to provide working women professionals a program to develop their leadership skills and realize their full potential in the area of travel and tourism. The program comprises 20 scholarships for the U21Global Executive Diploma of Business Administration that can articulate into The University of Nottingham MSc in Tourism and Travel Management. The 20 winners comprised of women from Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.

MasterCard has also released a series of consumer and travel reports on women, which can be found at www.MasterIntelligence.com - an online repository of MasterCard's proprietary research platform that includes the MasterIndex™ suite of research products and MasterInsights Report.

The MasterIndex of Women's Advancement is a composite index that measures the socioeconomic level of women in relation to men using four key indicators. The first two show the ratio of female to male participation in the labor force and tertiary education, and are based on source data from national statistics bureaus. The other two indicators, based on survey data, measure female and male respondent perceptions of whether they hold managerial positions and earn above median income. These subjective factors are a gauge of how positively or negatively respondents feel about their place in the workforce.

The final figures show how close or how far women in each market come to being equal to men. A score under 100 indicates gender inequality in favor of males while a score above 100 indicates inequality in favor of females. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes. It is one of the MasterCard MasterIndex suite of research products in Asia/Pacific. The other key MasterIndex research products include the MasterIndex of Retail, MasterIndex of Travel and the flagship MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence.

NOTE TO EDITORS: This news release is distributed with the table on the next page that shows the MasterIndex of Women’s Advancement by market. The full report, which provides details on the scores for the four indicators by market, can be found at the website www.mastercard-masterindex.com

The MasterIndex™ of Women's Advancement forecast is one of MasterCard's MasterIndex suite of research products in Asia/Pacific. The other key MasterIndex research products include:

The flagship MasterIndex™ of Consumer Confidence - the region's most comprehensive and longest running consumer sentiment survey. Now in its 14th year, the MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence has demonstrated its predictive precision and has proved to be an excellent barometer of the consumer pulse in this region. Today, the survey is much sought after by analysts, academics and decision-makers in financial institutions, government agencies and multinational organizations.

The MasterIndex™ of Travel, which encompasses a six month forecast of outbound travel for 12 markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) and a survey of business and personal travel trends among the urban middle class across the region.

The MasterIndex™ of Retail, which is a short-term forecast of retail sales growth in 12 key Asia/Pacific markets - Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The forecasting is done twice a year, to provide powerful predictive market intelligence that is highly relevant not only to wholesale and retail industries, but to sectors such as entertainment, food and beverage, the hospitality and leisure industry, as well as consumer goods manufacturing.

MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 16 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard Worldwide serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to www.mastercardworldwide.com.

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Melissa Devine, 02 9818 0950, mdevine@ppr.com.au
Michael Pooley, 02 9818 9310, mpooley@ppr.com.au