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Category: Business, Economics and Finance / Company News / Community and Society / Feminism

Newly listed companies lag in gender diversity

Thursday, 11 Aug 2016 14:57:39 | Emily Stewart

About 23.4 per cent of ASX 200 companies employ women on their boards. (AAP: Julian Smith)

Not one of the 20 largest companies to list on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2016 has a female chief executive, new research has found.

Workforce diversity specialist Conrad Liveris compared data from the Deloitte 2016 IPO Report and found women were under-represented on the boards of newly listed companies, averaging just 19.6 per cent.

That compares to a slightly higher figure of 23.4 per cent amongst ASX 200 companies.

The number of women in managerial positions is also low, at just 17.7 per cent of the IPOs, compared to 26 per cent in the broader market.

Percentage of companies with women in higher positions

ASX 200IPO20
Board*23.4%19.6%
Management**25.9%17.7%
*ASX 200 board numbers via AICD
**ASX 200 management numbers via Workplace Gender Equality Agency's data at key management personnel

Just one company, Future Fibre Technologies, with a market cap of $85 million, had a female chair while only two companies, Digimatic Group and Wonhe Multimedia, employed female chief financial officers.

In general, the bigger, more established, companies tend to have more women in senior positions, but Mr Liveris said it is not about having more money to spend on fulfilling diversity targets.

"To achieve a diverse and inclusive workforce companies don't need to spend lots of money, what they need is will," said Mr Liveris.

"Gender diversity seems to be held with some scepticism with start-ups and emerging companies."

However, some small companies do not list their entire teams publicly, which may influence the data.

The average board size for the IPOs was five people, which fits with standard governance practices.

Mr Liveris said if anything, emerging companies should have an advantage over those in the ASX200, as "they are newer, with smaller staff bases and have had greater access to knowledge on management and diversity issues."

"A lack of gender diversity, as a signpost for further inclusion, is a mark of underperformance, an unproductive culture and workplace and an old management style that is increasingly unprepared for the modern economy," said Mr Liveris.

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