More women getting a seat at the boardroom table but yawning gap left in chair roles, AICD finds

The number of women in the boardrooms of Australia’s biggest companies has risen rapidly, but new research suggests they still aren’t getting the top seat at the table.

In what’s been lauded as a “milestone to be celebrated”, analysis of board diversity by the Australian Institute of Companies Directors released on Friday says the ASX20 and ASX50 have at least 40 per cent women on their boards.

The development comes amid concerted effort, and scrutiny, in recent years from the public and private sector to get individuals from different backgrounds on the boards that steer some of Australia’s largest companies.

Among ASX100 companies there are 39.3 per cent women on boards. This drops down further when broadened out to the ASX200 and ASX300 to 37.4 per cent and 36.9 per cent respectively.

Despite the progress in director roles, women chairs remain few and far between. There are no women in the top job in the ASX20.

“There are only 19 chairs that are women on the ASX200 and 34 on the ASX300,” AICD reported.

On the whole findings from the analysis have been celebrated as a win, but AICD chief executive Mark Rigotti said there was work to do after a dig behind the headline numbers.

“There’s a bit of a head-scratching moment, if you’ve got a good supply of talented women coming through the board roles, you would have thought there’d be more chair roles.”

The data comes after Minister for Women Katy Gallagher put forward a new procurement policy that would require big businesses to commit to — and meet — gender equality targets to win Commonwealth contracts.