Bellamy’s particularly stands out on the female-free list, which is mostly made up of mining, resources and agriculture companies. Until recently, Bellamy’s was led by a female CEO and managing director, Laura McBain. It’s four person board now has two Johns, but no women.
Also on the list is Flight Centre Travel Group – again a particularly curious organisation to be lacking women in its key decision-making processes, given women book the majority of travel.
It’s not just the 13 boards with no women that’s concerning to see from these latest stats released by the Australian Institute of Company Directors, but also the fact the rate of women being appointed to ASX 200 boards in general has declined in the first half of the year, moving from 44% in 2016 to 30% in 2017. There have been 17 women appointed this year, compared to 40 men.
That puts the AICD’s target of 30% female representation across ASX 200 boards by the end of next year in doubt, and is a seriously disappointing result given significant progress in recent years.
AICD chair Elizabeth Proust said the latest data is concerning.“What is clear is that there is no supply problem, only one of demand,” she said.
“The AICD is calling on chairs and boards on the ASX 200 to continue to show leadership on gender diversity and to refocus their efforts on achieving the 30 per cent target as a priority.”
She also noted how important gender-diverse boards are becoming for stakeholders, citing the example of the ACSI recently announcing it will recommend voting against incumbent directors who sit on all-male boards.
More positively, The Quarterly Gender Diversity report also finds that the number of ASX 200 boards that have reached the 30% target has risen to 71, twice as many as two years ago. Women now make up 25.4% of ASX 200 directors.
The 13 boards with no female directors (as of 31st May 2017) include:
CIMIC Group Ltd
Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd
TPG Telecom Ltd
ARB Corporation Ltd
Evolution Mining Ltd
Resolute Mining Ltd
Qube Holdings Ltd
Australian Agricultural Company Ltd
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd
National Storage REIT
Investa Office Fund
Bellamy’s Australia Ltd
Mineral Resources Ltd