Don’t for a second get comfortable thinking corporate Australia is making great progress on women in leadership.
Some teeny tiny steps have been made across larger organisations in the ASX 200, where 22% of all board members are now female, but things don’t progress significantly from there.
In smaller listed organisations, ASX 501+ companies, 77% still do not have ANY female board members. The number of women on boards at this end of the ASX has actually gone backwards, down from 9% in 2013 to 6% in 2015.
And for the in-betweeners, the ASX 201 to 500 companies, female board members have seen a 50% increase. Sounds great, until you see the starting point – from 10% in 2013 to 15% in 2015.
The findings are based on a KPMG report prepared for the ASX Education and Research Program, released today. It analysed almost 600 entities across different sections of the ASX: 197 within the ASX 200, another 200 in the ASX 201 to 500 and 200 in the 501+.
Across Australia’s largest 100 companies, where considerable attention has been paid to companies reporting on and improving their gender diversity, little’s moved at the very top of such organisations. Just 5% of CEOs in these entities are female, the same rate as in 2011, while just 10% of COOs are female, with once again no change in five years. The number of female CFOs has actually moved backwards, from 8% to 6%.
There are some improvement areas in these top 100 companies: the rate of women in senior leadership positions in HR is now at a massive 65%, at 39% in general counsel and 33% in marketing. Women in senior IT roles has also seen a positive increase, from 19% in 2011 to 29% in 2016. Unfortunately, these are not the positions that usually funnel into CEO roles.
So what’s the level of intention for more progress in listed organisations?
The great news is that 99% of ASX 200 companies have a diversity policy, along with 88% on the ASX 201 – 500 and 75% for companies in the ASX 501+ region.
The bad news is these diversity policies don’t appear to have a whole lot of teeth.
While KPMG reports that the quality of disclosure has improved since it first started doing these studies in 2012, it also says very few companies have transparent quantitative objectives (such as 30% of board members will be female by 2018). As a KPMG statement on the findings says, those companies that set and disclose “clear quantifiable objectives” demonstrate a higher level of gender diversity than those that don’t. “Publicly committing to quantifiable objectives really does drive good diversity outcomes.”
Here’s one direct outcome we’d like to see in the next year. Currently, just one ASX 200 board is majority female, Medibank. Surely, we can improve significantly from there.
Key stats from the ASX Corporate Governance Council Principles and Recommendations on Diversity.
- Women made up 22% of ASX 200 board positions in 2015, up from 18% in 2013 and 15% in 2012
- On ASX 201 to 500 entities, women made up 15% of board positions in 2015, up from 10% in 2013 and 10% in 2012.
- On ASX 501+ entities, women made up just 6% of board positions in 2015, down from 9% in 2013 and 8% in 2012
- Women accounted for 26% of non-executive directors (NEDs) on ASX 200 companies, and 18% for ASX 201 to 500 entities and 7% for ASX 501+
- Women made up 26% of ‘senior executives’ at ASX 200 companies in 2015, up from 22% in 2013 and 20% in 2012
- At ASX 201 to 500 entities, women made up 27% of senior executives in 2015, up from 21% in 2012 and 19% in 2012
- At ASX 501+ entities, women made up 19% of senior executives in 2015, up from 18% in 2013 and 15% in 2012.
- Women make up 41% of all positions in ASX 200 organisations, and 38% in ASX 201 – 500 organisations and 30% of ASX 501+ organisations
In the ASX 100:
- 5% of CEOs across top 100 Australian companies are female, the same rate as in 2011.
- 8% of CFOs are female, up from 6% in 2011
- 10% of COO/Deputy CEOs are female, the same rate as in 2011
- 12% of Head of Business Units are female, up from 6% in 2011
- 29% of CIO/CTOs are female, up from 19% in 2011
- 39% of General Counsels are female, up from 33% in 2011
- 64% of senior HR positions are female, up from 58% in 2011
- 22% of marketing/corporate affairs are female, up from 26% in 2011
- 11% of CROs are female, up from 7%