Prime Minister John Key's practised inclination - crack a few jokes about daughter Steffie usurping his credit card and/or messing up her en suite and son Max telling dad there would have been more upside if he had been an All Black and/or how he has got a tad porky since entering politics - still gets laughs when he ventures about the country.

It worked also for Key this week when he pulled out the "Steffie and the chequebook" gag again at the launch of the new New Zealand Global Women network at the University of Auckland Business School.

The network is chaired by Wellington lawyer Mai Chen and appears to have grown out of a carefully selected female group that Chen put together some while back to increase their influence in the circles that matter.

Key's rampant good humour suitably seduced those present that he was taking seriously their stated aims to increase the leadership opportunities for "their members" through building a diverse, supportive and well-connected network that extends from New Zealand on to a global stage.

But it was symbolic that Key was not speaking from prepared notes. There are no speech notes posted on his Beehive website that even acknowledged the launch of this new "power women" network.

Get real sisters. Key's impromptu gushing was so notably light on commitment to what matters for most women that frankly little of a factual nature resonated.

The Global Women organisation intends to mentor upcoming women leaders and has taken it upon itself to "distinguish itself as the organisation that is helping to diversify the makeup of boards and executive offices in New Zealand".

All this, according to its website, through leadership, engagement, and collaboration of members, emerging leaders and affiliation with influential professional organisations.

This is all worthwhile stuff. But there is no stated commitment from Key - nor has there been from shareholding ministers, for instance - to ensure more qualified women will be appointed to state-owned enterprise boards.

Just one significant SOE, Mighty River Power, is chaired by a woman (Carole Durbin), 35 years after women were awarded equal pay.

Across the board the picture is not much better. Just 54 out of 624 director positions on NZX companies are held by women, after a flurry of female leadership during the 1980s and 1990s.

For instance: first woman deputy PM, first woman PM and first female elected PM, chief judge, Governor-General, first female chief executive of a major listed company.