Women held to higher standard on experience to get board seats

Leading company director Marina Go says women are made to demonstrate greater experience than men in order to get a director's position, leading to a small number of women juggling multiple board seats.

Australian Institute of Company Directors data shows that, as at February, seven women held four board seats on ASX 200 businesses compared to one man, while 32 women held three board seats compared to 26 men. However, men dominate the ranks of directors with one or two board seats.

Marina Go said women face additional barriers in securing a first board role.Credit: Christopher Pearce

The director on the ASX 200 holding the greatest number of board seats across the index is a man, with five board seats.

Ms Go said it "has to be true" that women face additional barriers in securing a first board role and often won't be appointed unless they already hold another board role.

Ms Go sits on the boards of EnergyAustralia, 7-Eleven, Autosports Group and Pro-Pac Packaging, alongside non-profit and sporting boards for Ovarian Cancer, Suncorp Super Netball and the Walkley Foundation.

"There were many more instances across the years when men could go from an executive role onto the board, that is absolutely sure," she said.

Things have to change in terms of the way people are appointed to boards if you want true diversity.

Marina Go

"Back in the day, most boards were populated by former CEOs. The second problem women have is there are so few women CEOs in ASX companies and large private companies.

"That barrier starts there. It goes to explaining why some men were appointed straight from executive roles into a plum role."

Data published last week by Chief Executive Women showed just 12 of CEOs in the ASX 200 were women and about 15 had no women executives at all. Ms Go said women were required to prove themselves through multiple lower-profile board roles.

"Women are given the opportunity for their first board but most don't go straight to a top board, most have to do our time and work our way up," she said.

"That I think is the gender difference. Things have to change in terms of the way people are appointed to boards if you want true diversity and you truly want a board where everyone thinks differently."

AICD general manager of advocacy Louise Petschler said appointments were opening up for people to secure their first seats, including women.

"We looked at 2018 appointments and more than half were new to the ASX 200 for both men and women, showing most are new faces coming onto ASX 200 boards," she said.

Of the 97 women non-executive directors appointed in 2018, 50 were new to the ASX. Of the 107 men appointed to boards, 64 were also new to the ASX 200.

The Australian Council of Super Investors is campaigning to get more women on boards and chief executive Louise Davidson said while a "high percentage" of women coming onto board seats held multiple seats, it was not problematic.

"It’s not as much of an issue as it is perceived to be," she said. "When we looked at the statistics we saw a whole lot of fresh faces coming onto corporate boards.

"The so-called 'golden skirt' phenomenon really came from Norway. Because of a legislated quota and a short time frame to implement it, there was a problem with women moving quickly from executive to boards.

"We do not have that same degree of concern in Australia at all."

Graeme Samuel attracted criticism earlier this year when he claimed there was a "club" of women directors excluding newcomers.

“There is a wall that needs a nuclear bomb to smash down the impenetrable wall around the female club of directors,” he said.