Increased gender diversity on boards leads to better performance for corporates, not only from a pure financial sense but also in terms of managing key indicators of longer term wealth creation like customer satisfaction, and building a robust employee and corporate culture.
However, despite the evidence, there are 13 Boards in the ASX 200 that have no women on their boards, and 65 companies with only one female director, notes Patricia Cross, 30% Club Chairman on the second year anniversary of launching this initiative in Australia.
The 30% Club is a group of chairs, directors and business leaders taking action to increase gender diversity on Australian boards. The group has set an ambitious goal of ensuring that women account for at least 30 per cent of all directors on ASX 200 boards by the end of 2018.
“The rate of appointment of women to boards has fallen in this calendar year to only one in three. Surely it can’t be that big of a deal to appoint women to two appointments out of five? We need to get serious about this issue,” she said.
She said: “The response from many company Chairs and CEOs has been overwhelming, especially in its generosity of spirit. However, sometimes I feel that our campaign is being promoted as a social, “feel good” agenda. By all means, feel good about it, but let’s not kid ourselves: diversity is a business imperative.
“The message is clear. We believe that gender balance on boards not only encourages better leadership and governance, but diversity further contributes to better all-round board performance, and ultimately increased corporate performance for both companies and their shareholders.”
30% Club Steering Group Member and Australian Institute of Company Directors Chairman Elizabeth Proust AO said: “It is essential for those in leadership positions to do everything in their power to ensure the 30% target is reached by the end of 2018.
“Once we reach that goal we can go further, but sadly we’ve still got a way to go,” she said.
Proust added: “It’s also essential that those who believe that diversity is good for business continue to champion measures to help increase diversity, from appointing female directors to their own boards to shareholders advocating for their participation on the boards they invest in.”
A recent report by The 30% Club titled ‘Leading by example’ compiles feedback from ASX 200 chairs of boards with at least 30 per cent female directors. Thirty chairs from the 53 ASX 200 companies with at least 30 per cent female directors (as of August 30, 2016) participated in this survey.
The reasons given by chairs for supporting board diversity focus on the performance benefits derived from having access to a variety of unique perspectives, expertise and knowledge of 50 per cent of the talent base.
The report shows that most of the chairs are optimistic that the number of women on ASX 200 boards will surpass the 30 per cent target in the next few years. They feel that most directors support the cause because they see the real benefits for their boards and organisations and will inevitably win over detractors.
Due to the gender balance on the boards of the interviewees, many chairs are also now focusing their attention on organisational gender diversity and on appointing directors from diverse cultural backgrounds.
For more information please visit https://30percentclub.org/
Cut+PasteMay 24, 20177.24am
