Cultural diversity on Australia’s ASX 300 boards has stalled over the past decade, with advocates urging change for the “disappointingly low” representation.
Only 6.6 per cent of ASX300 directors have a non-European background this year, according to the 2024 Watermark Search International Board Diversity Index. This includes non-European Anglo-Saxon directors from countries like USA, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa
There are now more white directors than seven years ago. The data shows 90.5 per cent of ASX300 directors had an Anglo-Celtic background in 2017, and this has increased to 91.2 per cent in 2024.
This is despite the 2021 Census revealing that 27.6 per cent of Australians were born overseas and 48.2 per cent of Australians have at least one parent born overseas.
Approximately 1 in 4 Australians have a non-European background as well, and around 18 per cent of Australians have an Asian background.
The Asian Australian Lawyers Association has said it is “very disappointed” in the landmark findings of the latest Watermark Index.
“The levels of multicultural, First Nations, LGBTIQA+ and disabled representation on ASX 100, 200 and 300 boards are disappointingly low. The composition of Australian boards does not represent the diversity of the talent in the communities that they serve,” said AALA National Vice President, Belinda Wong.
The index shows only four directors on the ASX 300 are openly LGBTQI+ and there is no data on directors with a disability. And there hasn’t been a change to the number of First Nations directors which remains at four, although they now occupy an extra board seat with a total of seven.
“Multicultural communities, which include AALA’s diverse membership of over 1,000 members, are highly qualified and aspire to serve our Australian community in roles where we can best utilise our skills, lived experience, cultural backgrounds and linguistic capabilities,” said Wong.
By failing to increase representation of these multicultural communities on Australian boards, Wong warns that institutions will risk having “monocultural boards oversee an increasingly diverse workforce to which they bear little resemblance”.
The Watermark Index states that ASX300 boards “could be described as the ‘whitest shade of pale’” and that “we’re often simply replacing white men with white women from a similar background.”
“Unconscious affinity bias, fishing from the same pond and a lack of transparency around access to merit-based selection processes,” are all at fault, according to Katrina RAathie, an AALA NSW Patron.
It’s these entrenched structural issues that Rathie says will “result in directors being chosen based on old school network and ties”, which ultimately prevents new talent being found.
“Forward thinking and enlightened chairs and their recruiters need to look more widely to find and meet talented candidates from a variety of multicultural backgrounds who are hungry for opportunities to shine,” she says. “I know so many amazingly skilled culturally diverse men and women just waiting for the call that never comes.”
“More needs to be done to connect the talent with the opportunities to provide the diverse talent pool for Australia to grow and succeed in the markets of tomorrow.”