Break the cycle of women's invisibility in the Boardroom

Thu 8 Dec 2011

The Human Rights Commission today welcomes the Institute of Director’s mentorship programme aimed at increasing the number of women on boards. "It is fantastic that the Institute of Directors (IOD) has begun a mentoring programme for aspiring female directors. This will add to a number of other initiatives preparing women for governance positions such as the EEO’s Trust cross mentoring programme, Global Women’s initiatives, the Agri-Women’s Development Trust’s Accelerator programme and the New Zealand Women in Leadership programme in universities,” says Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Dr Judy McGregor.

The Human Rights Commission which monitors women’s progress in the boardroom in its two yearly New Zealand Census of Women’s Participation has since 2006 urged the Institute of Directors to take a much stronger leadership role in promoting skilled and experienced women as directors.

The Commission is delighted that the IOD has risen to the challenge. “It is wonderful to see another new initiative aimed at improving the tiny number of women in corporate governance, which at less than 10 per cent currently lags behind other similar countries, including Australia.”

The EEO Commissioner said she also believed there was more that the IOD should be doing.
-  The Commission has for some years challenged the IOD to demonstrate diversity in its own organisation and notes that only three women are listed as current Distinguished Fellows out of 59, which is around 5%. 
-  The IOD should promote the pool of already skilled and experienced women who are seeking directorships to the 57 top 100 companies listed on the NZX without a single woman on their boards.
-  The IOD could take an active leadership role with its members urging them to support the NZX’s biannual review next June (2012) that will propose new rules requiring all publicly listed companies to declare how many women and minorities they have in senior roles and as directors.
-  The IOD needs to be far more visible in promoting the business benefits and equality imperatives of women’s representation, in light of the growing research which links performance to diversity in the boardroom.