Women on Boards ??

“You could be forgiven for thinking women have not just broken through the glass ceiling, but smashed it to bits, melted it down and had it recast into nameplates for their executive suites.” wrote Daniel Hatch in The West Australian recently.

Kudos to Daniel for a great turn of phrase! Regrettably, it’s not the case although he did offer reasons why it should be:

Australia’s Prime Minister and Governor-General are women. [Ed – and so is NSW’s Governor]. Every night industry leaders like Westpac Bank boss Gail Kelly and recently retired Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout are on television, fighting the hard fight on behalf of business. Gina Rinehart, a WA woman in charge of a mining empire, is Australia’s richest individual.

So, how is it that in 2012 we have a mere 13.8% of Board positions held by women, an increas of only 5% in the last 4 years? 32% of the Top 200 listed companies on the ASX have no female Board members at all!