While the pay gap continues to grow between men and women, the number of women appointed to ASX 200 boards is growing, with female directors of Australia’s top listed companies now close to 10 percent.
In figures released by the Australian Institute of Company Directors so far this year, 31 women have been appointed to ASX 200 boards, three times that for the whole of last year, where only ten were appointed. Broken down by percentage, 27 percent of all ASX 200 board appointees this year have been women, compared to just 5 percent last year and 8 percent in both 2008 and 2007.
The number of women on ASX 200 boards have increased to 9.8 percent, up significantly from 8.3 percent at the beginning of the year, with the Australian Institute of Company Directors compile these numbers from Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) data,
Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, John Colvin believes real progress is being made in Australia towards equal opportunities for women in the workplace.
“As far as we are aware, the 9.8 percent figure recorded this week for the proportion of women on ASX 200 boards is the highest the percentage has ever been in Australia” said the
“We have already seen this year more than three times the number of women appointed than for the whole of the 2009 calendar year.”
Women however, still have a way to go, with the gender pay gap widening over the last year in data from EOWA.
“As we have consistently said, the proportion of women on listed company boards in Australia is not good enough and needs to be increased.” he said.
The Australian Institute Company Directors has announced a range of initiatives to address the issue of board diversity, including the ASX 200 Chairmen’s Mentoring Program and a new scholarship program being funded jointly with the Federal Government.
“And, our recently announced scholarship program is aimed at assisting the continued building of the already existing pipeline of female director talent in Australia by providing 70 scholarships to women to do our Company Directors Course or Mastering the Boardroom course,” Mr. Colvin said.
