Ninety one per cent of CEO positions on the ASX 300 are held by men, with female appointments at a rate that is far too slowly to make a significant shift in the gender imbalance.
Over the past year, just one in four new CEO appointments at these 300 largest, listed entities went to women.
But there have been some improvements on the ASX 200, following the appointment of six additional female CEOs over the past years. We are now 50 years from achieving gender parity across this portion of the index, down from 100 years one year ago.
These figures come thanks to the seventh annual Chief Executive Women Senior Executive Census, tracking the progress of women’s representation in senior leadership at Australia’s largest organisations.
Overall, the figures show that the larger the organisation, the better it’s doing on achieving gender diversity across its highest leadership positions, likely due to the added public scrutiny placed on these companies, as well the stronger initiatives in place to retain and promote women.
But overall, the figures show just how long we have to wait to achieve gender diversity in the upper echelons of corporate leadership. It also highlights how long we’ll have to wait to get greater representation of culturally and racially diverse women, First Nations women and women with a disability, given the number of appointments of the broad “category” of women is still so tiny.
The Census finds positive news in the fact that all companies across the ASX 100 now have at least one woman in their executive leadership teams. It also found a reduction in the number of companies with no women in CEO pipeline roles, which is down to 27 per cent in 2023.
But as CEW notes, the progress is painstakingly slow. The numbers are also so small that things can change quickly, especially when considering just how far away we are from reaching CEO gender parity.
CEW released the figures in line with their Leadership Summit happening today in Melbourne, where is says it will issue a call to corporate Australia to accelerate gender equality because it benefits everyone. CEW will call all Australian companies to set targets with real accountability and transparency, noting that those companies with 40:40 or better targets are found to be three times more likely to achieve gender parity than those without targets.
CEW President Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz (pictured above) wrote in the intro to the CEW Census that Australia has one of the most well-educated women’s workforces in the world, yet corporate Australia is failing to capture the benefits of the investments that have gone into this talent. “Corporate Australia has an opportunity to tap into a highly motivated, educated, and capable diverse leadership talent pool. The great news is, it already exists.”
She also highlighted the clear business case for gender equality, including research findings that companies with gender-balanced leadership teams perform better, delivering greater profits, attracting better talent and achieving higher ESG outcomes. Recent research by Bankwest Curtain Economic Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency estimated that increasing women’s representation in leadership leads to a 6.6 per cent increase in the market value of ASX-listed companies.
CEW is also calling for more development in the leadership pipeline, urging companies to ensure that women are in line for CEO positions. Currently, CEW finds that eight in 10 CEO pipeline roles are held by men, which indicates continued slow progress (if any progress) ahead.
CEW also highlights the lessons that can be learnt from the ASX 100, with bigger companies doing better on achieving gender-balanced leaderships. On the current trajectory, the ASX 100 will achieve gender balance across executive leadership teams in four to eight years, rather than the 14 years it will take for the ASX 300. Key reasons for their better performance include greater public accountability requiring more action on gender diversity and company-specific policies and behaviours that retain and promote women into leadership positions. Meanwhile, 80 per cent of ASX 100 companies currently set gender targets, compared with 55 per cent in the ASX 101-300.
Key stats to note from the CEW Census 2023, figures as of July 2023
- 91% of ASX 300 CEO roles are held by men
- 7 in 10 executive roles are held by men (71%) across ASX 300, with women’s representation up just 2% from 2022
- 23% of ASX 300 companies have gender-balanced executive leadership teams
- 10 of 42 CEO appointments on the ASX 300 over the past year went to women, compared with 4 of 28 in 2022
- 28 ASX 300 companies have no women in their executive leadership teams
- There are six more ASX200 women CEOs in 2023, than there were in 2022
- Every ASX100 organisation now has at least one woman in their executive leadership teams
- 27% of ASX 100 companies have no women in CEO ‘pipeline’ roles
- Eight in 10 (82%) CEO pipeline roles are currently held by men — these are COO and CFO roles
- Companies with 40:40 gender targets or better were three times more likely to achieve gender balance than those without targets
- 13% of ASX 100 CEO roles are held by women and 20% of CEO ‘pipeline’ roles
- 10% of ASX 200 CEO roles are held by women and 18% of CEO ‘pipeline’ roles
- 9% of ASX 300 CEO roles are held by women and 18% of CEO ‘pipeline’ roles