Views differ over women on boards

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When it comes to the debate over a lack of female company directors, the men and women governing Australasia's biggest firms have "polar opposite" views on what is causing the problem, a survey has found.

Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg and researcher Deborah Bell canvassed a sample of ASX 100 and NZX 50 directors during the final quarter of 2011.

Sixty per cent of male board members attributed the gender disparity on boards to a lack of female senior executives who could be drawn upon, while 70 per cent of women directors thought the problem stemmed from a lack of access to male-oriented networks, the survey said.

In the report published on the survey's findings Groysberg and Bell said women "had it right" over the reason for a lack of female representation highlighted in the survey.

"The truth is that a similarity bias is blocking their access," they said.

According to the survey, the overwhelming majority of Australian and New Zealand directors cited their networks as the source of their board seats.

"In contrast, only 30 per cent of female and 27 per cent of male directors obtained their roles via executive search firms," the survey said.

But the study also found few respondents, both male and female, favoured the introduction of quotas - such as those found in some parts of Europe - for women on boards.

Only 30 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men said quotas would be an effective means for increasing boardroom diversity, according to the survey.

"Women expressly don't want to be appointed as a result of quotas - they want to be around the boardroom table based on merit and qualifications to serve," said Andrea Waines, of leadership consultancy Heidrick & Struggles' Auckland office.

The survey also found that, despite being better educated than their male counterparts, women were overwhelming relegated to non-executive director roles.

"Not one in our sampling, and a mere handful of the total ASX 100 and NZX 50, are chairs," the survey said.

Sixty per cent of the women surveyed had an advanced degree, compared with 41 per cent of men.

However, 39 per cent of male participants identified their position on the board as chair and 42 per cent as an executive director, while 90 per cent of women respondents were non-executive directors.