Women’s representation in executive roles in Australia’s top public companies is going nowhere, fast. That’s what Sam Mostyn wrote in her message in the Chief Executive Women Senior Executive Census 2022 report, that shows a reversal of progress for women in corporate Australia.
According to the report, released on Tuesday, more ASX300 companies have no women in their executive leadership teams compared to this time last year, and at the current rate, it will take 100 years for corporate Australia to achieve gender balance in CEO positions.
There are also fewer ASX300 companies with gender balanced executive leadership teams compared to 2021, down to 50 from 58 companies. Meanwhile, of the 28 CEO appointments made at ASX300 companies in the past year, only four were women.
“In light of the recommendations from the Jobs and Skills Summit, and the critical job shortages across the economy, it is staggering to see the stalling, or reversal, of women’s representation on leadership teams in many companies,” CEW President Sam Mostyn AO said on Tuesday.
“The Census tells us that incremental change is not good enough. We must act now, or we know it will take 100 years to reach parity in CEO positions.”
Mostyn said in the current economic environment, it’s vital we enable women’s participation and leadership in business.
“We are calling for business to take purposeful, immediate action and for investors to demand gender balanced leadership teams at the companies they invest in,” she said. “Our Census shows that our best-performing companies are more likely to have set and achieved gender balance than companies lower in the ASX300.
“This reiterates what we already know – businesses achieve better results when there is gender balance. This is not just about equality – this is about smart economics and future productivity.”
The Chief Executive Senior Executive Census, now in its sixth year, tracks the representation of women in senior leadership across Australia’s top public companies.
The report has been released on Tuesday at the Chief Executive Leadership Summit, taking place in Melbourne.
When it comes to management roles, women hold just over one out of 10 of positions with profit and loss responsibilities, which are traditional pathways to CEO positions. The report shows it will take until 2058 to see a 40:40:20 gender balance in these management roles.
So what can be done?
The report recommends a number of specific actions for business and government. Sam Mostyn says there must be purposeful targets set and accountability measures introduced.
For business, the report recommends actions like monitoring gender balance targets, reducing gender bias in recruitment and promotion processes, and investing in the pipeline of female leaders.
Investors should use a gender lens when making decisions and use their power to urge companies to set gender balance targets.
The report recommends the government gives priority to organisations with gender balanced leadership for government procurement, strengthen corporate reporting requirements on gender pay gap data, invest in the care economy and jobs in the care industry, and deliver of universal early childhood education and care.
“This year, Australia has a choice,” Mostyn said.
“We can continue to hope for the incremental progress of women into leadership; or we can be bold, set purposeful targets, be accountable and harness one of our greatest opportunities for success.”