Gender diversity stalling on ASX 200 boards

New data from the Australian Institute of Company Directors shows that women make up only 29.7 per cent of directors on ASX 200 boards, with Western Australia’s NRW Holdings and Emeco Holdings among four companies that have no women on their boards.

That figure is 0.3 percentage points below the 30 per cent target the AICD called for in 2015.

While gender diversity has increased by 10 percentage points in that time, AICD managing director Angus Armour said he was disappointed to see progress stalling.

“While gender diversity on boards is not sliding backwards, the figures haven’t shifted since December 2018 and clearly more work needs to be done,” Mr Armour said.

“Boards struggling with gender diversity should ask themselves if their search processes are effective and competitive enough to access the large talent pool of female directors in Australia.

“The AICD will continue to advocate strongly on gender diversity.”

So far, 90 ASX 200 companies have reached the 30 per cent target, while more than half of ASX 100 companies have.

Among those female directors is Sue Murphy, who was appointed to her role at Mondelphous this past June.

In addition, the report found 13 chairpersons were women, as were nine managing directors and chief executives.

While two of the four companies on the ASX200 that reported having no women on their boards were from WA, Fortescue Metals Group reported one of the most diverse, with 55.6 per cent of its directors being women.