Members of companies without women on their boards will be recommended to oppose the re-election of existing directors in 2017 by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).
ACSI adopted a target for women to comprise 30 per cent of all ASX200 boards by the end of 2017, based on the belief that skilled and suitably diverse boards make for better-governed companies.
Currently, 17 ASX200 companies do not have women on their boards and 63 have just one female director..
ACSI chief executive, Louise Davidson, said: “This is not an issue we take lightly, and we sincerely hope that by the time of next year’s annual meetings no companies will be in the firing line”.
With more than half the companies in the ASX200 with at least 25 per cent women on boards, 2016 had the highest rate of female appointments at 40 per cent.
“ACSI recognises that company directors must be suitably skilled, and an appropriate fit with a board. Identifying the right candidates takes time,” she said.
“Companies that still have no women directors, or even worse, no plan to achieve that 30 per cent target, are running out of time and are at serious risk of votes against sitting directors in the near future.”
