Women’s representation on boards stood at 36 per cent in the ASX 200 and 35.5 per cent in the ASX 300 at the end of February, according to the latest Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Gender Diversity Report.
In comparison, from September 2022 to November 2022, the proportion of female non-executive directors had stood at 35.7 per cent in the ASX 200 and 34.9 per cent in the ASX 300.
Of the 1,774 non-executive directors on the ASX 300 i.e., those who did not hold an executive position within the company, 40.2 per cent of roles were held by women at the end of February 2023.
This marked an important milestone in the continued drive towards gender parity on Australian listed boards and was a “significant achievement”, said Mark Rigotti, AICD managing director and chief executive.
“It is important for us to recognise that the gains of the past decade have come about because of an active focus and effort to achieve parity. We can use this experience to point the way forward,” he said.
“It’s clear what can be achieved with commitment and intent. The challenge is now for boards to refocus their attention so we see similar progress can flow through to executive director appointments.”
However, the analysis also found this gap significantly increased when looking at ASX 300 executive directors. Of the 341 executive directors, those who also hold the position of CEO or other executive management post, the majority (88.9 per cent) were men.
Moreover, three ASX 200 boards and six ASX 300 boards were all-male.
According to Nicola Wakefield Evans, chair of the 30% Club Australia, it was an indication that more needed to be done.
“The lack of women in the c-suite is an issue for boards. Boards are responsible for appointing CEOs and ensuring that a company’s policies and procedures support equal opportunities for women to progress up the leadership pipeline,” she said.
“We must continue to work on coordinated and long-term strategies that provide opportunities for women to thrive at all levels of leadership.”
In December 2022, the AICD Gender Diversity Report had found some 39 per cent of board committees were chaired by women, although this fell when looking at overall board chairs, with 10.5 per cent of ASX 200 companies chaired by women and 11 per cent of ASX 300 companies.
