NZX urged to get more women in top jobs

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The NZX is being urged to follow the lead of its Australian counterpart and make public companies set targets for putting more women in top positions.

The Corporate Governance Council of the ASX is proposing that listed companies be required to adopt and publish self-imposed targets for increasing gender diversity, both on their boards and in their organisations.

Companies would have to disclose in their annual reports how many women they have at all levels and how well they are measuring up to their targets.

If adopted the changes would come in on July 1 next year.

The council's chief executive told the Sydney Morning Herald that the issue might be elevated to listing rule status if enough companies failed to co-operate.

The move follows a proposed new law in France forcing companies to give at least half their board seats to women within five years.

Only 10 per cent of board members of the CAC40 top French companies are women.

The lack of women at the top is an issue across the Western world.

Just 8.65 per cent of NZSX top 100 directors are women, and only 1 per cent of NZSX top 100 chief executives are women.

In Australia the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency's 2008 census showed 8.3 per cent of ASX 200 directors were women - a decline from 8.7 per cent in 2006.

Just four of the ASX 200 companies had women chief executives. The number with no female executive managers had risen to 45.5 per cent from 39.5 per cent in 2006.

New Zealand equal employment opportunities commissioner Judy McGregor said a forum in October called A Place at the Table had recommended human capital reporting as a way of addressing the low numbers of women in key positions.

Attended by male board chairmen and senior women in governance, the forum recommended requiring companies to report on diversity to the stock exchange.

McGregor said she would be writing to the NZX strongly supporting the Australian move.

"For us it's become almost desperate. We're the lowest in the developed world for our percentage of women on corporate companies, and we don't seem to be making progress with just letting the market decide."

NZX chief executive Mark Weldon was not available for comment.

New Zealand Global Women chairwoman Mai Chen said the ASX had shown leadership on the issue.

"I think that there is no need to be cautious about welcoming what the ASX is proposing.

"I can't see why NZ wouldn't be ready for a similar move."

Company director Roseanne Meo said she had concerns about quotas but the ASX's voluntary approach should be considered.

"When you look at the little progress that has been made around the board tables I guess you have to start looking at some of these options."

However, Institute of Directors chief executive Nicki Crauford was "very cautious" about the NZX going down this route.

"I think that this can run counter to the interests of women if you're not careful, because people will perceive that women are in either management positions or board positions simply to make up the numbers."

Auckland woman Shelagh Coop is a shareholder in a number of companies and makes a point at annual meetings of speaking up about the lack of women on boards.

She believed the NZX should follow its Australian counterpart.

"I think women do bring a different dimension into this. Women have got more [of a] social conscience, a more rounded view of things, not just making the dollar."