With the issue of gender diversity in leadership gaining momentum, a common question we hear is “where are the women to take up the reins?”.

In the last Friday’s edition of Australian Financial Review BOSS magazine there is a list of woman whose careers, skills and capabilities are a resounding answer to the constant (and somewhat misleading) questions “where are the women?” when it comes to finding talent for boards and executives. Amongst the women profiled are Melinda Cilento, Tracey Wagner, Kirsty Sutherland, Cassandra Kelly and Becky Alivio. And then there is the list of another 20 worth watching.

It’s also packed full of interesting studies, facts and stats. Did you know that 37% of the senior executives in the public sector are women, compared to only 10% executive management in the private sector? And it’s not what you might think, that there are just less women to go round in the private sector; the actual percentage of women hired in both the private and public sector are almost identical (59% and 58% respectively)

AFR BOSS admits it’s a small start, but great news is that they are committed, as we are to maintaining and updating this list as an online resource, and  an annual feature. We plan to support BOSS in this undertaking and are preparing our own list of sphinxx women to watch. So if you know anyone, or personally deserve to be on that list, post a comment below or email us here. If you can’t get your hands on a copy of the article, a slightly edited version is available here.