On the surface it is worse here.
Far, far worse.
Not one - not even one - of the bosses of the top 50 listed companies on the NZX are women.
That's one of the standout takeouts of the Herald's CEO pay survey released this week.
It needs to change.
Dig a bit deeper and there are some shining female lights at the top of NZ business.
The problem is most of them are in governance roles. Sue Sheldon, Dame Jenny Shipley and Joan Withers are household names. Talk to young women and many offer up an ambition to go straight "into governance".
But that's not where the real drive in business comes from.
We want our boards to be stacked with people who know enough to usefully challenge the status quo , whose antennae are sharp enough to sniff out managed earnings rorts and understand markets.
Experience in top corporate positions teaches some of that.
But the ability to shape a business comes from being in the chief executive's seat. That's where the dynamism is created and the future is shaped.
New Zealand women are increasingly readying themselves for top commercial roles.
That's obvious from looking at just who's now on the executive team of many of our top companies. Particularly in the finance sector but also at a traditionally male company like Fonterra which features talented executives like Jacqueline Chow and Maury Leyland who are likely to be part of their 17-strong million dollar club.
Women are featuring not just in HR or People roles - which in the past were a career cul de sac for ambitious women. But also driving major EBIT - particularly in banks.
A Sydney Morning Herald survey earlier this year found 12 of the ASX Top 200 companies were run by women; one less than the 13 who were headed by men named Peter.
Pitiful really.
But those Australian listed companies are appointing women to run their major offshoots in New Zealand.
Notably, the female boss of IAG's Kiwi offshoot Jacki Johnson who would be ranked 6th on the Herald's pay survey if the Australian insurer was listed here.
Johnson's $3.118 million remuneration package is just south of the $3.237 million package that SkyCity boss Nigel Morrison - ranked 5th on the Herald's Pay 2014 table - enjoys, and lags that paid to top-scoring chief executive ANZ's David Hisco ($4.267m), Fonterra's Theo Spierings ($4.180m), Fletcher Buildings Mark Adamson ($3.730m) and former EBOS chief Mark Waller ($3.475m).
Johnson's salary package proves that women can not only foot it in the big time within Australasia when it comes to not only performing top roles and also nailing the gold-plated salary packages that come with outstanding success.
Her baseline salary is just over one-third of her total remuneration in IAG's 2014 financial year.
Johnson is an acknowledged risk-taker. She launched an effective start-up within IAG to help the big insurer come to terms with disruptive technologies and stay ahead of the competition. But her prime role has been leading IAG through a tumultuous period after the Canterbury earthquakes. She is personable, a straight-shooter but also a tough cookie under pressure.
IAG is the highest ranked insurance company in the Deloitte Top 200 list of financial institutions.
ASB boss Barbara Chapman would also feature within the top 10 on the Herald tables, if parent company CBA was listed here.
Chapman's 2014 package was not disclosed. But the 2015 remuneration package is expected to be given her position on Commonwealth Bank's executive leadership team.
Like Johnson, Chapman was well-tested through a number of roles within her respective financial institution before being appointed NZ CEO.
Other higher paid female bosses of Australian company offshoots include NZME. chief executive Jane Hastings whose overall remuneration package in 2014 was valued at just over $1 million.
Parent company APN is considering listing NZME. on the NZX. NZME. also owns the Herald.
At issue though is whether the female bosses are in fact being paid enough given comparable CEO salary rates in Australia for similar sized companies.
At first blush they aren't. But equally male bosses of NZ companies - as well as directors - frequently argue they also get the short straw on a comparative Australasian basis.
At state-owned Transpower Alison Andrew draws a salary in the $1.2 million to $1.29 million band.
But for many Kiwi women the game is not necessarily climbing the corporate ladder.
Wendy Pye, Erica Crawford and Diane Foreman are all self-made millionaires who have created major international businesses from New Zealand.
Ask for their pay packet and you will be rewarded with a snort. "That's my business."
