Jennifer Whelan, Melbourne Business School

There is a common theme in public debate on gender diversity – a focus on the unique benefits women bring to boards, the warm, inclusive and ultimately unquantifiable merits of a gender diverse boardroom.

The presence of only one woman, albeit a high profile one, in Tony Abbott’s cabinet has prompted renewed calls for the introduction of quotas to ensure greater numbers of senior women in government.

Tuesday’s Australian Financial Review Chanticleer survey of 33 largely male “captains of industry” reveals that quotas to improve the numbers of women in senior management positions are still overwhelmingly viewed as at best unnecessary, and at worst counter-productive.