Hats off to Women on Boards for their latest Boardroom Diversity Index (BDI), which provides a snap shot across 850 organisations of the number of board seats held by women. The research, now in its third year, tracks directorships by gender across ASX Companies, Cooperative Research Centres, Credit Unions & Building Societies, Government, National Sporting Organisations, Research and Development Corporations and Superannuation Trustees, and this year the categories of ASX201-300 companies and Health Funds were also added.
The 2012 BDI shows small, but encouraging, signs that the recent gains in the number of female directors on the boards of ASX200 companies are being matched in other key sectors in the economy.
Directors of Women on Boards, Claire Braund and Ruth Medd, said the 2012 BDI findings were encouraging and showed that organisations were paying attention to the issue of boardroom diversity, but that there was still a lot of work to be done as there should be at least 40 percent of women on the boards of the majority of the organisations listed in the BDI.
“The number of organisations with more than 25 per cent women on their boards has increased and the number of those without a woman on their board has fallen, however the latter is still unacceptably high at 24 percent. These organisations are failing in their responsibilities to customers, shareholders and society,” Ms Braund said.
The sectors with the largest increases since 2011 are the ASX200 and the Australian Government. Those with the highest representation are the State Owned Corporations in Queensland and South Australia.
The 2012 Boardroom Diversity Index is available alphabetically by company and also by percentage of female representation on the Women on Boards website here.
Or follow these links to various sector specific data:
- ASX Companies
- Cooperative Research Centres
- Credit Unions & Building Societies
- Government – Australian
- Government: State Owned Corporations
- Health Funds
- National Sporting Organisations
- Research and Development Corporations
- Superannuation Trustees
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