Women's progress to top jobs 'dismal'

Women are making "dismal progress" to leadership positions in New Zealand, according to a new report.

Just 7.13 per cent of the country's top 100 listed companies had women directors - up 2.9 per cent since the last study, in 2004.

Women comprised 41 per cent of statutory-body directors, said the report, and 35 per cent of Crown company boards. In universities, women totalled 16.91 per cent of senior academics.

The findings from the New Zealand Census of Women's Participation were released today by the Human Rights Commission. EEO Commissioner Judy McGregor said she was "surprised and incredibly disappointed ... the results show dismal progress". Although many public bodies had found good female talent, the private sector had not.

"I just assumed that in New Zealand we had grasped the idea that greater diversity at governance level helped the bottom line."

Dr McGregor cited a study by Canadian consultancy Catalyst, which studied 363 of America's top 500 firms and found a strong correlation between the number of women in executive positions and financial performance.


The report added that:
* Among Government-linked bodies, women leaders were clustered in areas with a traditionally high level of women's involvement such as health and social development.
* A total of 63 of the top 100 New Zealand companies had no women on their boards (46 women out of 645 directors). Among them were The Warehouse (an eight-member board), Tourism Holdings (six), Vector (seven), and Fisher & Paykel Appliances (eight).

Warehouse Group chairman Keith Smith, whose only female colleague, Joan Withers, left last year to take the top job at Fairfax New Zealand, said board composition would be reviewed this year.

"You've got to look at the strength and capabilities of all board members and get a proper mix of those, which includes gender."

He later issued a statement which said the new board member would be "a woman to replace Joan".

Brian Nowell, general manager of corporate communications at Fisher & Paykel, did not wish to comment beyond saying the company looked for "people with the most appropriate background to contribute to our business". Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden was overseas and unavailable.

Dr McGregor said that one reason for the lack of women was an "informality" in boardroom processes that saw many posts filled by either personal connection or consultants.

She did not support tokenism, but, asked if women should make up 50 per cent of every board, she said: "There are a lot of senior women who do [want governance positions] and haven't had a look-in. I'm not hard on it having to be 50-50, but I would ask why is half of New Zealand's potential ignored in terms of governance?"

Women's Affairs Minister Lianne Dalziel said she hoped the report would be a catalyst for change. Companies should not be defensive, she said, but think about what diverse perspectives could add to their business.

The report praised children's clothing chain Pumpkin Patch as one of only two top 100 NZSX companies to have achieved gender parity. The other is investment company Kingfish. 
 
Women in charge
Women in the New Zealand labour force: 47pc.
District health boards: 42pc.
State sector statutory bodies 41pc.
Crown companies 35.43pc.
Members of Parliament: 32.2pc.
Local government members: 26.9pc.
Judges: 24.2pc.
Cabinet: 23.8pc.
Daily, Sunday newspaper editors: 19.2pc.
Mayors: 18.9pc.
Top 22 legal partnerships: 17.2pc.
University, associate professors: 16.9pc.
Top 100 companies NZSX: 7.13 pc.
* Source: New Zealand Census of Women's Participation 2006