New Zealand’s NZX and Gender Diversity

“Women are under-represented in New Zealand’s biggest companies, with women representing only 12 per cent of NZX’s listed companies’ directors.

The NZX’s first Gender Diversity Annual Statistics released last month revealed that among 109 companies, male directors totalled 88 per cent, and company officers were 81 per cent male and 19 per cent female”.

Self regulation is one method to redress gender imbalance across organisations. Enforcing quotas is another.

Self regulation is slow change and it is likely that talented women miss out on opportunities while waiting for traditional values and subtle sexism to adapt to a more modern world.

Conversely, quotas may mean that some women are given opportunities they’ve not yet earned nor are ready for in the quest to advance the position of women.

In a country with a small demographic like New Zealand, the need for change can seem more acute because of the size of the workforce.

The question still remains, if we seek relative representation on gender grounds then the size of the talent pool is not the issue: the selection methods and identifying inherent bias, is.