A pre-Christmas flurry of appointments of women to CEO roles at leading energy and mining companies has shifted the dial on gender equality in the top ranks of the ASX after a year of stalled progress.

Australia’s biggest gold miner Newcrest tapped chief financial officer Sherry Duhe, a former Woodside executive, to act as CEO on Monday until it finds a permanent replacement for the recently departed Sandeep Biswas, while oil and gas explorer Cooper Energy appointed Jane Norman as its new CEO.