Women on Boards Research Report

Overview

The research for Women on Boards Goes National was conducted by market research company, Delta Outlooks, Sydney NSW, in December 2003 and January 2004.

The research covered 412 organisations:

  • 338 public companies from the top 500 publicly listed companies, excluding 70 mining companies (based on BRW 2003 Top 500)
  • 31 other publicly listed companies (non-top 500).
  • 43 companies, associations or industry bodies with boards (mainly rural).

Data was obtained through the Australian Stock Exchange website, organisation websites and by phone. Of the organisations surveyed, board details were available for 393. Of these, 369 were publicly listed companies, which represents 26% of the 1,420 companies listed on the ASX. Of the 412, approximately 80 fit into the rural category.

The data is likely to be more positive towards women that is the case in reality due to that fact that:

  • Mining companies were excluded where you would expect a lower representation of women on boards.
  • As you will see below the best performers are most likely to have women on their boards and the lower performers are less likely to. Our sample is skewed towards the better performers.

Executive Summary

  • The proportion of board members who are women is extremely low (7% of board members are women) and this is unlikely to increase significantly in the foreseeable future.
  • This expected lack of increase in the proportion of board members who are women is due to:

• The infrequency of positions becoming genuinely vacant (as opposed to re-appointing existing board members)

• Where boards do consider appointing a woman there appears to be a preference for women who already hold board positions. This is evident from both the significantly higher incident of women board members holding more than one board position than for men plus 41% of women indicated that they obtained board positions because they were known because they were on other boards.

• Chairs and company secretaries indicated that the likelihood of appointing a woman to the board in the next few years was low (rated 5.7 out of 10). 17% gave a rating of 8, 9 or 10.

Analysis of current board membership

  • 37% of the 412 boards covered by this research have one or more female board members.
  • 29% have one woman board member
  • 6% have two board members
  • 2% have three board members
  • 7% of all board members are women.
  • 3% of public companies and associations have female Chairs.
  • 63% of the top 176 public companies have at least one woman on their board
  • 27% of lower ranked companies have at least one woman on the board

There are 2,569 board positions in the sample held by 2,277 different men (ie some hold several positions). Of these 2,277 men:

  • 91% hold one board position
  • 6% hold two
  • 2% hold three
  • 1.2% hold 4 or more board positions.

There are 164 positions in the sample held by 136 different women (ie some hold several positions). Of these 136 women:

  • 76% hold one board position
  • 16% hold two
  • 7% hold three
  • 1% hold 4 board positions.
  • The important observation is that once appointed to a board, women tend to be appointed to more boards on average than men.
  • There is a significant trend for companies with better financial results to have women board members.
  • There is a significant trend for larger companies (based on employment size) to have women on the board, particularly for those with over 1,000 employees.
  • Companies that listed post 2000 are more likely to have women on their boards than those that listed earlier.
  • There is a significant variation by state with 58% of ACT boards having one or more female board members followed by NZ 55%, NSW 43%, SA 37%, WA 34%, TAS 33%, VIC 33% and QLD 27%. Please note that the ACT figures are distorted due to 6 of the 7 ACT boards with women on them being rural boards established by the Federal Government.
  • The larger the board, the more likely it is to have one or more women board members.
  • There is a significant variation by industry with Banking & Finance most likely to have one or more women board members followed by Process & Petroleum, Research & Development, Insurance, Health & Community Services and Utilities.
  • Least likely to have a woman on the board are Hotels Restaurants & Leisure, Wholesale & Distribution, Technology Hardware & Equipment, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Telecommunications, Health Care Equipment & Services and Transport & storage. (other industries are detailed on page 13)

Boards by State

State

Number of boards which include women

ACT

12

NSW

174

NZ

11

QLD

44

SA

19

TAS

3

VIC

98

WA

32

Total

393

Percent of ‘top 500’ public companies with women on boards

Company ranked by ASX

Boards with women

100 companies ranked between 1 - 176

63%

100 companies ranked between 178 - 302

27%

100 companies ranked between 303 - 440

24%

37 companies ranked between 441 - 500

27%

Board vacancies expected in 2004

Item

No.

%

Boards with vacancies

20

8

Don't know

66

27

Nil vacancies

159

65

Total Responses

245

100

  • The 8% of boards with vacancies in 2004 represents 1.4% of all ASX listed board positions (approx. 9,940)
  • This represents approximately 140 new board appointments in 2004.
  • At current rates of 6% of board appointments being women, this data shows eight new female board members will be appointed to public companies in 2004.

It is possible that some of the companies spoken to have ‘technical’ vacancies arising where existing board members are up for re-election. If they don’t see these as genuine vacancies they may have responded accordingly.

Number of board positions held by male/female of 375 companies & associations.

No. of board positions

Men (%)

Women (%)

1

91

76

2

6

16

3

2

7

4

1

1

5/6

0.2

0

Number of public companies with women on boards by profit 2003

There is a significant trend for companies with better financial results to have women board members.

Status

Boards with women

Total boards

Boards with women (%)

$5m+ profit last financial year

64

142

45

$0-5m profit last financial year

33

103

32

Loss for last financial year

14

69

20

 

111

314

  

Breakdown of profit

Status

Boards with women

Total boards

Boards with women (%)

$5m+ profit last financial year

64

142

45

$0-5m profit last financial year

33

103

32

Loss for last financial year

14

69

20

 

111

314

  

Number of companies & associations with women on boards by number employed

Employees

Boards with women

Total boards

Boards with women (%)

1-100

10

50

20

101-200

9

30

30

201-300

9

30

30

301-700

7

30

23

701-1,500

15

41

37

1,501-3,000

19

30

63

3,001-6,000

9

14

64

6,000-30,000

14

25

56

 

92

250

323

Number of public companies with women on boards by ASX list date

Companies that listed post 2000 are more likely to have women on their boards than those that listed earlier.

When listed

Boards. with women

Total boards

Boards with women (%)

1987 or prior

46

123

37

1988 - 1999

51

160

32

2000 to present

36

85

42

 

118

349

105

Number of companies & associations with women on boards by state

There is a significant variation by state as indicated below. However please note that the ACT figures are distorted due to 6 of the 7 ACT boards with women on them being Rural boards established by the Federal Government.

State

Boards with women

Total boards

Boards with women (%)

ACT

7

12

58

NZ

6

11

55

NSW

74

173

43

SA

7

19

37

TAS

1

3

33

VIC

32

98

33

WA

11

32

34

QLD

12

44

27

 

150

392

38

Number of companies & associations with women on boards by the size of the board

No. of board members

No. of boards with women

Total boards

boards with women (%)

2-5

12

106

11

6-7

52

139

37

8-10

58

113

51

11-17

28

35

80

 

135

375

36

Industry breakdown

Industry

Total in sector in sample

Boards with one or more
female directors (%)

Banking & Finance

6

100

Insurance

4

75

Process & Petroleum

4

75

Research and development

13

64

Health, community services

8

50

Utilities

6

50

Media, Film, Radio & TV

21

43

Manufacturing

48

40

Real Estate

30

40

Retail

25

40

Agriculture, forestry / fishing

31

39

Energy

13

38

Construction

8

38

Software & Services

28

36

Finance, Business & property services

57

35

Health Care equipment & services

19

26

Transport, storage

13

25

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology

15

20

Technology Hardware & Equipment

5

20

Wholesale & Distribution

20

11

Hotels Restaurants & Leisure

10

0

Telecomms & Media

6

0