International Women's Day
A benchmark for gender diversity on boards

8 March 2010
MEDIA RELEASE

Australia’s first comprehensive index to track the performance of key sectors in our economy on gender diversity in the boardroom has been released today.

Women on Boards, the leading advocate and broker of women into board roles, released the Boardroom Diversity Index to kick start effective measurement and reporting of women’s participation on boards.

The index covers female participation on 774 boards from ASX200 companies, credit unions, superannuation funds regulated by APRA, national sporting organisations, Cooperative Research Centres, rural research and development corporations and top government boards in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and nationally. *

Claire Braund, Executive Director of Women on Boards, said that International Women’s Day 2010 represented a benchmark for gender diversity on boards.

"Female participation on boards in these key sectors should never again fall below the numbers we have published today," she said.

"Most sectors have at least 20 per cent female directors, with the glaring exception of the ASX200 at 8.7 per cent - an embarrassing statistic for Australia's leading business index."

In November 2009, Women on Boards called for ASX200 companies to achieve a minimum of 25 per cent female directors by 2012 or it would be advocating for the introduction of mandatory quotas.

"We issue a similar challenge to the other sectors whose data has been published today to achieve minimum of 40 per cent female directors in the same timeframe.“

"There are a large number of qualified and experienced women seeking directorships in Australia who would be very willing to serve on the boards of the organisations surveyed.

"Women on Boards has the CVs of approximately 1,500 board ready women from its subscription base of 7,500, so here is a good starting point for any organisations not sure where to look," Ms Braund said.

Women on Boards has a free vacancy posting service for companies seeking to advertise to high quality female applicants and will conduct private searches on request.

Click HERE for the Boardroom Diversity Index

For Interviews Contact

Claire Braund
P: 02 4369 6006 or 0409 981 781, E:claire.braund@womenonboards.org.au
Ruth Medd
P: 0419 407 231, E: ruth.medd@womenonboards.org.au