Women gain ground on Top 100 boards

Women broke the "100 in the 100" barrier in 2012 with 105 women now sitting on the boards of Australia's Top 100 companies — but progress is still too slow, according to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).

Over 100 women occupy 144 roles on the boards of Australia's Top 100 companies, representing 14 per cent of overall positions. However they still only account for under 10 per cent of individuals serving as directors of ASX 101-200 companies and were entirely absent from the boards of over half of those companies.

Interestingly, ACSI's 2012 Board Composition study found many of the "usual suspects" among appointees had fallen off boardroom wanted lists, with appointments drawing on a more diverse pool of candidates.

In all 108 new director appointments occurred in 2012. An overwhelming majority of these — 73 board seats — were filled by 70 directors not on the current Top 100 directors list.

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From 55 new entrants, 25 per cent were current executives and half of those (seven of 14) were women, ACSI found.

Chairmen took a pay-cut in 2012, according to ACSI, with the average fees paid dropping by 3.5 per cent — a result of pay reviews as people moved on or were retired and companies restructured pay.

ACSI chief executive Ann Byrne said that although the tide was slowly shifting and boards were drawing from a wider and more diverse pool of talent, there was still work to be done.

Women on Boards' recently released Traffic Light Index also showed progress could be accelerated as only 8 per cent of ASX200 boards had truelly embedded the principles of gender diversity within their firm. It showed 15.5 per cent of companies had little or no regard for basic gender diversity prinicples while 55 per cent were addressing diversity issues.