With the world celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, recruiting experts Hays has found that the number of women in managerial positions has increased in Asia. The 2017 Hays Asia Salary Guide reveals that 31 percent of management roles in Asia are held by women compared to 29 percent reported in last year’s guide.

The countries with the highest percentage of women in managerial positions in the region are mainland China and Malaysia, both at 35 percent. Whilst mainland China has increased this figure by 3 percent, Malaysia has decreased by 2 percent from last year.

Hong Kong sits in third place with 33 percent of management positions filled by women. Hong Kong incidentally, reported the largest increase in the region with a rise of 5 percent from last year. Singapore follows with 31 percent and Japan remains the poorest performer with only 22 percent of women in managerial positions. This figure has however, increased by 3 percent from last year.

See: Increase of Women in Management Positions in Asia, But Lags behind in Japan

These findings come as Hays launch their 2017 Gender Diversity Survey in line with the International Women’s Day. The annual survey aims to uncover attitudes and perceptions of gender equality in the workplace.

“As progress continues to be made on gender diversity, the topic is still a critical issue in Asia. The rich insights our research uncovers, enables us to share the findings and advise employers on what measures can be taken to address the gender balance in their recruitment, retention and progression strategies”, says Christine Wright, Managing Director of Hays in Asia.

For Christine who was named in the ‘Global Power 100 – Women in Staffing list’ for the second year running in 2016, gender diversity is a topic she lives and breathes. “As the leading recruiting experts, Hays has a duty to be at the forefront of trends and issues regarding the world of work. In Asia, I’m immensely proud that 51 percent of the Hays workforce across the region is female, 44 percent of females make up our senior leadership teams and 57 percent of people managers are female.”

The Hays Asia Salary Guide now in its tenth year, highlights salary and recruiting trends drawn from more than 3,000 employers across Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore representing six million employees.

Also read: Women in Power: Challenging the Status Quo and Defying the Stereotypes