Although women are forging ahead in higher education and in the labour force, women often have a far less bullish picture of their power to hold managerial positions and earn good pay, a new survey shows.

And sometimes women are becoming gloomier than they were, it appears.

The latest MasterCard MasterIndex of Women's Advancement (Miwa), released today, shows that women in Singapore see themselves as earning below median income, despite closing the gap with men in areas such as tertiary education and employment.

Women here who felt they earn above median income fell to 36.59 per cent compared to 46.7 per cent a year ago and the Miwa score for this indicator fell sharply to 57.69 from 87.63 (a score of 100 means complete equality between the sexes) as men's optimism and confidence surged.

The optimistic outlook from male respondents to the survey affected the overall Miwa score.

Singaporean women also saw themselves as holding less managerial positions as compared with men, with the Miwa score for this aspect falling from 81.44 a year ago to 71.27.

Singapore was fifth in the Miwa score. New Zealand was at No 1, followed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Australia.

And Singaporean women are not far off the mark with such thinking.

New findings released yesterday from the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) show that while 67 per cent of local businesses have women in senior management - about the same compared to 66 per cent in 2004 - this figure is still significantly lower than our Asian neighbours.

The Philippines topped the survey with 97 per cent, with mainland China as runner-up with 91 per cent and Malaysia third at 85 per cent. Singapore came in seventh in East Asia, behind Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan.

And of all senior management positions available here, only 21 per cent of these went to women - a dip of two points from three years ago.

Globally, however, more women are taking up senior managerial positions as their participation grew from 19 per cent to 22 per cent since 2004.

Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton managing partner Kon Yin Tong said that Singapore 'lags behind its neighbours' in terms of women's participation in senior management.

He also expressed disappointment at fewer women occupying senior positions now as compared to 2004.

Mr Kon did offer some reasons for the percentage dip. He said: 'In a typical Singapore family ... very often it is the woman who makes the career sacrifice and takes a back seat.

'Perhaps Singapore is still strongly influenced by traditional values and there is an expectation for a woman to put family before career ... their dual roles at home and at the workplace may not be fully recognised.'

He also suggested that the government and interest groups look into the issue of improving the position of women in business and the professions.

MasterCard Worldwide communications vice-president Georgette Tan echoed Mr Kon's views as she said that when women take time off to start a family, their male counterparts remain in the workforce, and 'when women rejoin the workforce, they may find themselves behind their peers and having to catch up'.

Both MasterCard and Grant Thornton released their findings in conjunction with International Women's Day.

Miwa is a composite index that measures the socio-economic level of women in relation to men using four key indicators - employment and tertiary education statistics, and survey data measuring female and male perceptions of whether they hold managerial positions and if they earn above median income.

Get the link to the MasterIndex report at http://business-times.asiaone.com