Old boys' network still rules

By ANGELA GREGORY

Women still appear to be struggling to break through the glass ceilings of New Zealand's top companies, according to a new report.

The first Census of Women's Participation in Governance and Professional Life shows that New Zealand lags behind other countries in terms of the numbers of women on boards of publicly listed companies.

Only 5 per cent of directors of the top 100 companies on the New Zealand Stock Exchange were female, compared with 8.4 per cent in Australia, 7.2 per cent in Britain and 13.6 per cent in the United States.

The census report, released today, was produced by the Human Rights Commission and the New Zealand Centre for Women and Leadership at Massey University.

Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor said anecdotal reports suggested that women were doing well getting on to boards, but the figures showed otherwise.

"There's been only glacial progress from 1995, when figures showed that women comprised 3.86 per cent of boards of directors of publicly listed companies in New Zealand."

By contrast, New Zealand's crown companies had seven times the proportion of female directors, at 35.07 per cent.

"What the census shows is that there is a pool of experienced and competent women available who have been tapped for crown companies, but that the majority of publicly listed companies (around 70 per cent of the top 100) have no female directors," Dr McGregor said.

Board chairs, boards, chief executives and search companies would be urged to stretch their horizons when looking for new or replacement board members.

"We also urge shareholders to consider whether companies they invest in will be enhanced by female directors.

"We know that boards are not intended to be democracies. However, diversity and women's participation is a matter of sound corporate strategy and has nothing to do with political correctness."