A Place at the Table aims to improve the diversity of boards of directors in New Zealand. It is a partnership between the New Zealand Human Rights Commission and the EEO Trust. It will be regularly updated to try and boost the numbers of women and others in governance positions.
The Place at the Table: The Way Forward forum was held at the University of Auckland Business School in October 2009 at which prominent board chairs, senior women in governance and community representatives identified positive strategies for the future. Visiting international governance expert, Professor Susan Vinnicombe, of Cranfield University spoke at the forum about international efforts to improve the numbers and status of women on boards.
Downloads:
- Professor Vinnicombe's presentation Women on Corporate Boards - Lessons from the UK at a Place at the Table forum, 6 Oct 2009
- Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards - does it matter?, Professor Vinnicombe's presentation at the University of Auckland's Dean's Distinguished Speaker Series, 8 Oct 2009
Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Liz Broderick, asked why it was that New Zealand and Australia had less than 9 per cent of women on the boards of top Australasian publicly listed companies. Download Women's Leadership? The Australian Context, speech by Liz Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission at a Place at the Table forum, 6 Oct 2009.
A Place At The Table: The Way Forward
The main ideas and suggestions from the forum have been grouped into thematic areas. There was a high degree of commonality in the ideas from the different groups of participants.
1) Encouraging human capital reporting
- Persuading boards to report composition and diversity to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, in annual reports, etc
- Develop standards for human capital reporting
- Make reporting on diversity for listed companies mandatory
- Mandatory advertising for Board appointments
2) Mainstreaming the business case
- Making discussion of diversity part of business awards, AGMs,Top 200 Awards, business conferences, shareholder organisations, part of mainstream media reporting of business - not just "diversity" or HR focused media
- Engage business journalists to report on these issues
- Continue research into the business case for diversity on boards
3) Telling the story
- Develop A Place at the Table website for continuing contributions
- Develop New Zealand case studies and local research that prove the business case qualitatively and quantitatively, partnering with key influencers (eg Ministry of Women's Affairs, Institute of Directors)
- What are the different pathways (and alleyways) to first - and subsequent - appointments? How can these be defined and refined?
- Profile women who are ready to be directors
- Separate out the national productivity debate from business case for diversity/women on boards
- Continue feeding information and facts to a wide range of media
4) Men as champions
- Encourage chairs to actively state the case for diversity and tell the stories of success
- Identify potential champions in public and private sectors
- Engage and create key groups within professional bodies and institutes to support women eg Institute of Directors, legal, tax, accountants etc
5) Mentoring and Leadership
- What do we need to do/ set up to ensure talent is mentored in an effective, long-term, and practical way?
- Ensure mentoring and education programmes for board roles encompasses financial understanding;
- Encourage women who have been successful to mentor others (eg Global Women) and to act as advocates for other women;
- Develop mentoring/leadership programmes within and across organisations (eg NZ Post, universities' Women in Leadership programme)
6) Bridging the divide
- Open pathways between public sector and private sector boards; participants discussed the lack of crossover between the NFP/SOE and private company boards
- Skills do not appear to be seen as transferable or as relevant - yet men do cross over this divide (work needs to be done on the impact of the perception that experience in these areas is not as valid)
- Women who are successful in smaller businesses or NFPs often achieving success with fewer resources than those in larger businesses
- Ensure directorships are advertised
7) Setting targets
- Encourage performance targets for directors
- Encourage targets for diversity on long lists for Board appointments
- Encourage targets for private companies as well as SOE boards
Related Literature/Articles/Media Releases
- The New Zealand Census of Women's Participation 2008 report
This report produced by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission examines the representation of women in governance in the corporate and public sectors as well as other areas of professional life. 
The 2008 report is the third report of this series and is increasingly used in New Zealand and internationally as a reference by politicians, policy makers, academic researchers, non governmental organisations and individual women.
- Stepping up the pace
What might need to change for women to become leaders in greater numbers? Some of New Zealand’s trailblazers offer their thoughts in EEO Trust's latest Diversity in Action issue
- NZ women directors: many aspire but few succeed
A chapter by Rosanne Hawarden and Ralph E. Stablein
- So many companies, so few women directors
Media release, 14 October 2009