Deloitte Global’s sixth edition of Women in the Boardroom : A Global Perspective reports that women hold just 16.9 percent of board seats globally, a 1.9 percent increase from the report’s last edition published in 2017. The numbers underscore a now-familiar challenge: women are largely under-represented on corporate boards, and progress to change this trend continues to be slow.
“If the global trend continues at its current rate of an approximately 1 percent increase of women on boards per year, we will be waiting more than 30 years to achieve global gender parity at the board level. And even then, actual parity is likely to be concentrated to the few countries that are currently making concerted efforts to overcome this issue, leaving several regions lagging behind,” says Sharon Thorne, Deloitte Global Board Chair.
“Our report throws into sharp relief the progress and lack of progress countries around the world are making to increase the gender diversity of their boardrooms. For example, some countries, particularly in Europe and Australia, are showing real momentum. Yet, others continue to have very low rates of women serving on their boards. While the global average posted a small uptick, only six countries in the world can claim an average above 30 percent. These statistics illustrate an urgent need for organizations to take action to drive more positive and dramatic change.” says Dan Konigsburg, Senior Managing Director, Deloitte’s Global Center for Corporate Governance.
Studies have repeatedly shown that increasing diversity is not only the right thing to do for an organization’s culture, it also leads to better business outcomes. Increased diversity leads to smarter decision-making, contributes to an organization’s bottom line, and powers innovation, among other benefits.
“The benefits of diversity extend beyond the four walls of any single corporation. The trickle-down effect of women in the boardroom, such as breaking down stereotypes, encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers traditionally dominated by men, and breaking down the wage gap are all important steps along the way to greater economic opportunity for women and to more inclusive workforces and societies,” continues Konigsburg.
Yet barriers to gender diversity in the boardroom, and more broadly throughout the workplace, persist. Outdated workplace cultures, unconscious bias, and lack of sponsorship are just a few of the factors which prevent many women from reaching senior leadership roles. Women hold just 4.4 percent of CEO positions globally. CFO positions are nearly three times more diverse, but women still hold just 12.7 percent of these positions globally. Given that many board members are recruited from the executive level, this also contributes to a shortage of women in the boardroom.
“It is critical we take tangible, meaningful action now—or gender parity will remain an elusive goal rather than an enabler of inclusive economic growth,” says Thorne. “Based on our own experience, there are a number of actions that chairs, boards and executives can put in place today to accelerate progress. This includes setting the tone from the top—making gender parity a priority throughout the entire organization and holding leadership accountable to make progress. I have seen firsthand that it’s possible to speed up the rate of change. Representation on Deloitte Global’s Board jumped to 30 percent in 2019 from 16 percent the previous year, following structural changes and a concerted effort to ensure some of our highly talented women were given the opportunity. While I’m immensely proud of this progress, I know we still need to do more to move the needle and demonstrate our commitment through concrete actions.”
Deloitte Global’s Women in the Boardroom report shares the latest statistics on global boardroom diversity, exploring the efforts of 66 countries to increase gender diversity in their boardrooms and features insights on the political, social, and legislative trends behind the numbers.
Key findings from the research include:
In countries with the highest or fastest growing boardroom gender diversity, data reveals there is no one-size-fits-all solution
- Our data shows six countries that have over 30 percent women on boards—Norway, France, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, and Belgium. Three of these six have implemented gender quota legislation, while the other half have addressed diversity efforts without gender quotas.
- Norway, with 41 percent women on boards, was the first country to enact a gender quota legislation (a 40 percent quota) in 2005.
- France, with 37 percent women on boards, also has a 40 percent gender quota which became effective in 2017.
- Belgium, with 30 percent women on boards, has a gender quota which requires at least a one-third representation of each gender on the board.
- Sweden, Finland and New Zealand have not implemented gender quotas, instead addressing diversity efforts through self-regulation and/or corporate governance code recommendations.
- Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Finland, and South Africa all increased their boardroom gender diversity by five to seven percent since the report’s last edition. And again, there is a split between countries with gender quota legislation and those without.
- Germany saw a 6.7 percent increase which is likely linked to recent gender quota legislation passed in 2015.
- Finland saw a 7.2 percent increase through corporate governance code recommendations and the encouragement of career development programs for women.
- Malaysia saw a 6.9 percent increase after implementing a series of targets for women in leadership positions, as well as through corporate governance code recommendations.
- South Africa also saw a 6.9 percent increase after implementing recommendations for listed companies to disclose targets for gender and race representation at the board level.
- Similarly, Australia, which saw a 5 percent increase, has a recommendation that listed companies establish and disclose board diversity policies, as well as voluntary targets for gender representation on boards.
Progress across EMEA varies widely
- Europe is home to five of the six countries with the highest boardroom gender diversity in the world, while other European countries have more than 20 percent women on boards and continue to advance boardroom diversity slowly.
- In the UK, 22.7 percent of board seats are held by women. While there are no quotas in place, significant efforts have been put in place to advance efforts such as the 2011 Davies Review target which called for FTSE100 companies to have at least 25 percent women on boards by 2015, which was achieved. The report’s successor was launched in 2016 with a target of 33 percent representation of women on boards by the end of 2020.
- Most of the Middle East region has very low representation of women in the boardroom. Some efforts have been put in place to address the challenge such as the United Arab Emirates’ 2012 rule requiring all corporations and government agencies to include women on their boards of directors and Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision which aims to increase women’s participation in the workforce.
Boardroom diversity across the Americas rising slowly
- In the US, 17.6 percent of board seats are held by women, up from 14.2 percent two years ago. While there are no national quotas for women on boards, state measures have been passed to help increase women’s representation on boards. This includes a measure in California, which became the first state to require specified numbers of female directors on the boards of public companies. The law has drawn criticism and a lawsuit was filed in August 2019 challenging the law as unconstitutional.
- The percentage of board seats held by women in Canada grew to 21.4 percent, a 3.7 percentage point increase since 2017.
- In Latin and South America, only 7.9 percent of board seats are held be women.
Boardroom diversity in Australasia continues to rise, while overall boardroom gender diversity in Asia-Pacific remains slow
- Australasia has the highest boardroom gender diversity at 26.1 percent.
- Gender diversity in many of Asia’s leading economies remains low at 9.3 percent. Only a few countries in the region have quotas or other targets to address the issue
To read the full report, visit here : www.deloitte.com/WOB6
