Why appointing a female CEO to run a big company doesn’t feel like progress

It is a sad day when we are celebrating that six of Australia’s top 20 companies will be captained by women.

That percentage drops precipitously as the companies get smaller. Boards have no reason to pat themselves on the back when only about 11 per cent of top 200 companies are governed by females.

Transurban CEO-elect Michelle Jablko.

What passes for success – or even progress – is still a low bar.

Wednesday’s appointment of Michelle Jablko to run the country’s toll roads giant Transurban brought to six the number of women in charge of this elite top 20 companies capitalised at more than $15 billion.

While large companies might be ahead of the pack on this metric, this has only happened over the past couple of years, with Meg O’Neil moving to the top job at Woodside, Vicki Brady taking on Telstra, Leah Weckert being elevated to head of Coles and Fiona Hick being headhunted to lead Fortescue. Shemara Wikramanayake was appointed four years ago to run Macquarie Group.

A better credentialed group of executives would be hard to find.

As the size of the company declines, the proportion of women running them also falls.

Other than Hick, these women were internal appointees who were widely considered the likely successful candidates. For example, Wikramanayake grew Macquarie’s largest division and was a shoo-in to replace Nicholas Moore, and Weckert was the shareholders’ favourite to replace Steven Cain at Coles, while Brady had been Andy Penn’s right hand at Telstra for several years.

Of this super-six, none were considered risky appointments.

It is also noteworthy that female chief executives feature heavily in finance, mining and telecommunications, which are not traditionally female-dominated industries.

Weckert was the first chief executive of a major listed supermarket company in Australia – it took 100 years to happen. (Optus, which is a part of SingTel, also has a woman, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin at the helm).

Jablko was widely tipped to succeed Scott Charlton at Transurban having been its chief financial officer for a couple of years.

She had previously been CFO at ANZ bank and had been viewed as a contender to run the bank when Shayne Elliott decided to retire. Unusually, she hailed from investment banking rather than crawling up the operational ladder.

She “brings a balance of strong leadership, financial acumen, experience in complex transactions, a focus on building relationships with all stakeholders and a sharp strategic mind,” said Transurban chairman Craig Drummond.

Meanwhile, the numbers suggest that it is the larger companies that have worked harder in fostering female talent and placing them in middle management roles that would provide a pathway to the top.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce’s successor is Vanessa Hudson.Credit: Louise Kennerley / Bloomberg

Large companies have shown themselves to be more aware of the need to work on ensuring gender equality throughout their organisations and most, if not all, audit this progress.

They have been more responsive to shareholders and community expectations that the top jobs be shared between men and women.

As the size of the company declines, the proportion of women running them also falls.

The number of women currently (or announced) to be heading top 50 companies is nine or 18 per cent and includes Vanessa Hudson, the recently announced successor to Alan Joyce.

Among the top 200 Australian companies, the proportion of female chief executives sits closer to 11 per cent. But these are still large, listed companies that remain behind on the curve. The gender balance is improving, but with the absence of intense public and shareholder scrutiny, it is doing so at a glacial pace.

That we have made any progress at all is undoubtedly tied to the rise in the number of women on boards. ASX-listed companies have been required since 2010 to disclose in each annual report the proportion of women across the organisation, in senior management and on the board. Having 30 per cent or more of women around the boardroom table is considered good governance hygiene – having 10 per cent or less feels like tokenism.

Thus, we are well short of being in a position to celebrate. And this suggests that most boards have not yet got the memo that women in senior positions bring many competitive advantages to an organisation.

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