New Zealand Exchange
The New Zealand Exchange comprises three securities markets – the New Zealand Stock Market (NZSX), the New Zealand Debt Market (NZDX) and the New Zealand Alternative Market (NZAX).
New Zealand Stock Market (NZSX)
The top 100 companies listed on the New Zealand Stock Market (NZSX) have made less than a 1% gain in female representation as directors in over two and a half years.
Women hold 9.32% of board directorships of the top 100 companies by market capitalisation. This comprises 58 directorships held by 45 women in 43 companies out of a total of 622 directorships. The number of women holding directorships
has not increased from 2008. The 2010 figure of 9.32% compares with 8.65% female-held directorships in October 2007 and 7.13% female- held directorships recorded in 2006.
Thirteen companies out of 100 have two or more board members who are women. Only four companies, including three reported similarly in the Census report 2008, have achieved gender parity on their boards. They are children’s clothing retailer, Pumpkin Patch Limited which has three women out of a board of six directors, and Carmel Fisher’s companies, Kingfish Limited and Barramundi Limited, and a newer company, Marlin Global Limited, with the same female directors.
Westpac Banking Corporation, is the only other company in the top 100 to have three women out of 10 board members. Two of the top 10 companies, Contact Energy Limited and Vector Limited, have two women on their boards and eight others in the top 10 have three women between them. Six other top 100 companies have at least two women on their boards. They are Ebos Group Limited, Michael Hill International Limited, Delegat’s Group Limited, Abano Healthcare Group Limited, NZ Windfarms Limited, and Ecoya Limited. Five top 10 companies do not have any female directors.
Several major companies have lost a female director from their boards and have not replaced them with other women. Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Ltd, Sky City Entertainment Group Limited and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited, lost women from their boards and as at 14 May 2010 did not have female directors. The two other top 10 companies without a single female director are TrustPower Limited and Sky Network Television Limited. Telecom appointed a woman after 14 May 2010. Only 43 of the top 100 companies have any female directors, an increase of only 3 from the 2008 census report, which increased by only 3 from 2006. Eight women hold multiple directorships. One woman was chair of four fund companies, and another two women were directors of another three fund companies. One other woman has three directorships, and four women have two directorships each. Ten companies in the 2008 Census Report who had no female directors have added one female each to their boards in 2010.
The 2010 Census Report results are based on a database purchased by the Human Rights Commission on 14 May 2010 from the NZX Limited, which detailed company information including the names of directors of companies listed in the New Zealand Stock Market (NZSX), the New Zealand Debt Market (NZDX) and the New Zealand Alternative Market (NZAX). This material was verified by writing to each company (top 100 of the NZSX and all of the NZDX and NZAX) asking for confirmation of numbers, names and gender of the board of directors as at 14 May 2010. Companies which did not respond to the letters were emailed, and those who did not reply were followed up by facsimile. Verification also involved checking company websites against the NZX information. Two companies listed on the NZSX, five on the NZDX and three on the NZAX failed to respond to correspondence confirming gender data. One NZSX company lawyer rang the Commission to ask if the company was required by law to provide verification. Several companies indicated there had been board changes past 14 May 2010 which will be reported in the next Census report.
Table 2 - Female Directors of Top 100 Companies
New Zealand Debt Market (NZDX)
Women hold 9.57% of directorships in the 61 companies with 25 companies having female directors. The NZDX has almost doubled its percentage of female directorships since the last Census report in 2008. Two companies with three women on their boards are Meridian Energy Limited with three out of eight and Rabobank Nederland with three overseas women out of 16 board members. Four companies had two women, and nineteen had one female director each. Eliminating New Zealand Government Stock and University of Canterbury with no directors, this means that 34 of the companies listed at 14 May 2010 on the NXDX had no women on their boards.
New Zealand Alternative Market (NZAX)
Women hold 6.82% of directorships in the 27 companies listed on the NZAX, an increase of 1.75% from the 2008 Census report. The total number of female directors has increased by just two from 2008. Widespread Energy Limited is the only company that has gender parity on their board. Oyster Bay Marlborough Vineyards Limited is the only other company on the NZAX that has two women on its board and five other companies have one woman each. Only seven of the 27 companies have any female directors. Both Widespread Energy Limited and Just Water International Ltd are the only two companies that added a woman to their board since the previous Census report. Media Technology Group (known as Forge Media Group from 4 August 2010) and Speirs Group Limited lost a female director each since 2007. The number of companies on the NZAX has decreased by one, and the number of directorships has increased by six. The NZAX has dramatically decreased its proportion of women directors from the first Census report in 2004 when it was 16.39%.
Download the NZX tables here (NZSX, NZDX and NZAX)
Women in senior management of the NZSX Top 100 (provided by the EEO Trust)
The top jobs
Two women hold the top jobs as chief executives among the top 100 NZSX companies. Just four of the 93 companies for which accurate data could be secured had female chief executives at time of data collection in May 2010: Barramundi, Marlin Global and Kingfish, headed by New Zealander Carmel Fisher; and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ New Zealand), where Australian Jenny Fagg was Chief Executive. Jenny Fagg has subsequently stepped down because of illness.
Senior management teams
Senior management was defined as managers who report to the CEO. These teams totalled 564 people, 21% of these roles were held by women. When CEOs were included, 19% of the total senior leadership teams were composed of women. The most common senior management position held by women was human resources (HR) manager/director (17.4%). Overall, one in five senior women held roles in the broader HR area, including posts in organisational development and management. The second most common role for senior women was marketing manager (9.1%) and the third chief financial officer (6.6%), a group which also included group financial accountants,
group financial controllers and finance managers.
The remainder held roles in a range of areas, such as legal counsel, corporate services, public affairs, sales, operations, IT and risk management.
At least 30% of the top 100 NZSX companies had no women in their senior management teams, whether or not the CEO was included in the count. When CEOs were included in the count as well as their senior executive teams,
another 26% of companies had just one woman in their senior management teams. Overall, one in five companies had 30% or more women in their senior management teams when CEOs were included in the count.
This is the first year that the Census of Women’s Participation has included CEOs and senior management teams of listed companies. The NZX provided a list of the top 100 NZSX-listed companies by market capitalisation as at May 14, 2010 to the Human Rights Commission which was then sent to the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust (EEO Trust). Staff searched websites for information on senior management teams in the top 100 companies, and then made contact to clarify, confirm or correct the information. Information was confirmed for 93 CEOs, and 88 companies confirmed data for senior management teams reporting.
Table 6 - CEOS and senior management by gender of the NZSX Top 100
(as at 14 May 2010)
Download the Types of Positions Held by Women in Senior Management and Relative Gender Parity of NZSX Top 100 Companies tables here