Specifically, the provincial government proposed forcing companies to either set up diversity policies that include specific goals for
hiring female board members, or explain why they refuse to do so.
A dispiriting glimpse of animal abuse at a New York City shelter in 1966 prompted Wyler's interest in animal rights activism; she subsequently became the
first female board member of the ASPCA and formed The Ark Trust.
In Sweden itself, a 2006 study found that companies with
more female board members had higher profits and better potential for increasing earnings that those with no women.
The former trade minister and chairman of Standard Chartered bank has set a new target of 33 %
female board members by 2020 and widened the scope to all FTSE 350 firms.
In fact, researchers at the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that organizations with even a
single female board member or executive member showed 15 percent more productivity than their all male competitors.
According to a study of boards of directors from the research group Catalyst, companies that had a higher - than - usual number of
female board members serving for at least four or five years vastly outperformed companies with primarily male board members.
National organization with a mission to grow the proportion of
female board members at public companies from 19 % to 30 %.
For instance, companies whose top management is at least half female post returns on equity that are 19 % higher than average, and firms with the
most female board members outperform those with the fewest by almost every financial measure.
This has had some impact, from October 2011 to April 2014 the percentage of
female board members in Spain increased from 11 % to 16 %.
Today's appointment by Independence Group of its
first female board member has taken it off the list of ASX200 companies lacking female representation on their boards, although four other Western Australian businesses remain among those still to adopt gender diversity at board level.
While championing
more female board members, executives, and CEOs is well - intentioned, promoting more women at the top would be like starting to save for your retirement in your 50's.
Gender equality report by Mervyn Davies will set new target for FTSE 100 firms of 33 %
female board members by 2020
The data seem to show that gender - based quotas work: Sweden, Norway, and Finland, where the share
of female board members was 49 %, 46 %, and 45 %, respectively, have such policies.
The federal government has established an advisory panel aimed at boosting the number of women on Canadian boards, and Morgan Stanley recently introduced a new investment portfolio that includes only companies with a commitment to
female board members.
Progress has been slow when it comes to getting more women into executive roles (the number of
female board members is climbing but just 13 percent of these female board members are employed as executives).
However, when you add up all
those female board members, they account for only 22 percent of the total board positions.
«I just brought on
a female board member.
Of the 990 companies in the three markets studied by Grant Thornton that had
female board members, 127, or 13 %, were employed as executives.
Barclays» Women in Leadership Total Return Index, which consists of American companies with a female CEO or whose proportion of
female board members is at least 25 percent, is one of number of new funds that aims to capitalize on the finding that companies with female leaders tend to outperform those where women are relatively absent.
For example, a 2011 report from Catalyst, a nonprofit promoting women in business, found that over the course of five years, companies with women on their boards had average returns on equity of 15.3 percent, while those of companies without
any female board members were 10.5 percent.
Companies with at least one
female board member had a return on equity of 14.1 percent over the past nine years, greater than the 11.2 percent for those without any women.
According to Catalyst, a non-profit organization promoting workplace inclusion for women in Canada, women held only 22 percent of board seats in 2016, and a full 45 percent of the 677 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange had
no female board members.
Throughout much of the Academy's 90 - year history,
female board members were a rarity.
However, Glass Lewis recognizes that it may, upon review of an issuer's disclosure of its diversity considerations, refrain from recommending a withhold vote in the case of a venture issuer or where it is satisfied with the issuer's rationale for why there are
no female board members.
This recommendation may extend to other nominating committee members depending on considerations such as the size of the company, industry, governance profile of the company, and / or whether the board has provided a sufficient rationale for failing to have
any female board members or adopting a formal policy.