In spite of many studies finding that companies with more women on their corporate boards see stronger financial results, it appears that the percentage of women taking on these roles is still small.
In North America, gender parity remains a distant possibility. A Catalyst study released January 13 found that only 20.8% of S&P/TSX 60 board seats in Canada were held by women. In the United States, the representation was slightly worse, with only 19.2% of S&P 500 seats.
“We have evidence and optimism that closing the gender gap on corporate boards is possible, yet the current numbers are simply not good enough,” said Catalyst president and CEO Deborah Gillis.
“Companies that are not making diversity on boards a priority should be embarrassed.”
The picture isn’t quite as bleak in Europe, although representation by women on boards there remain far from ideal. Norway had the highest proportion, at 35.5%. This was followed by Finland (29.9%) and France (29.7%).
The lowest percentage of women on European boards was found in Portugal (7.9%), followed by Ireland (10.3%).
Women in Asia were found to be extremely under-represented. Only 3.1% of all corporate board members in Japan were women, followed by India at 9.5%.
Other than strengthening a company’s bottom line, corporate boards with a higher percentage of women have been seen to be more innovative and have higher levels of social responsibility.
But the news isn’t all bad. Gender parity is likely, according to a November report released by the Canadian Board Diversity Council – but not for a while. In fact, that report said that those who will see balanced boards are just being born now .
[email protected]
