Women on Boards - Positive Findings, an International Perspective

Reports recently released from the Women on Boards space have a positive message...

From Australia: The Reibey Institute have delivered their second research note on Women Leaders in ASX 500 companies.  The report examines women’s representation on ASX 500 boards as of 30 June 2011, and the story is a positive one.

Key findings of the report are:

• Women hold 9.5% of board position on ASX 500 boards, up from 7.2% in 2010.
• 233 of 500 (47%) of companies have a woman on the board.
• There are 235 unique women holding 307 board positions.
• 20% of female directors serve on more than one board, as compared to 12% of male directors.
• There has been a marked increase in women on ASX 400-500 boards over the 2010/11 financial year.

The report clearly indicates the benefit of having women on company boards – companies with women on their boards deliver a significantly higher return on investment (ROE) than those without women (9.2%  vs 0.5% 5 year ROE).

To read the full report – go to The Reibey Institute: http://www.reibeyinstitute.org.au/research/australian-resources/

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From the World Bank Global Corporate Governance Forum: The GCGF have released “Women on Boards: A Conversation with Male Directors” presenting a fresh perspective to the gender diversity on boards debate.  The publication offers series of conversations with a 15 male directors from around the world on how they perceive the presence and absence of women on boards.

Some of the suggestions made by these directors on increasing the number of women on boards include:

• Increasing transparency from companies on how they appoint board members.
• Greater awareness from boards and head hunters about the available talent pool.
• Education to create a better understanding of the importance and value of diversity.
• Disclosure standards by companies regarding diversity practices and representation of women through companies.
• Incentives and recognition for companies, rather than quotas, and “naming and shaming” of companies with poor diversity performance.
• Supporting corporate women in balancing family lives while pursuing corporate careers.
• Encouraging women to apply for board positions.

The conversations are overwhelmingly positive, with strong support from the CEOs, Chairpersons and Directors interviewed for board diversity. 

For the full report - visit the Global Corporate Governance Forum

“It’s who you know” - Networks and Sponsors: Savvy ways to get ahead

Networks and sponsors are hot topics in our inbox at the moment and are really reminding us of the importance of other people to our career satisfaction and progress.

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In a recent article "Managing Yourself: A recent article “Managing Yourself: A Smarter Way to Network”, authors Rob Cross and Robert Thomas speak of the importance of networks in helping with career success. Importantly, their research suggests that these networks should have certain features to be effective.  They should be balanced  - with connections that “promote career advancement and those that promote engagement and satisfaction”.  Effective networks are about quality of connection rather than quantity of connection, and should contain relationships that assist in gaining and broadening experience and learning new skills, but also help with finding purpose and balance.  The structure of the network is also key - with diverse relationships that cross hierarchy, organisations, functions and geographical location. 

According to Cross and Thomas, the most satisfied and successful leaders have the following people in their networks:

1. People who provide personal support, such as colleagues who help them get back on track when they’re having a bad day or friends with whom they can just be themselves.
2. People who add a sense of purpose, such as bosses and customers who validate their work, and family members and other stakeholders who show them work has a broader meaning.
3. People who promote their work/life balance, holding them accountable for activities that improve their physical health, mental engagement or spiritual well-being.

Some food for thought - do you have these people in your network? If not, where can you find them?

Earlier this year, a new report “The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Though the Last Glass Ceiling” was released by Sylvia Hewlett and her team at Centre for Work-Life Policy.  The “sponsor” relationship is important to the advancement to upper levels of an organisation and the study found that women do not maximise this relationship - either they underestimate the importance of it, or they fail to cultivate it. Many women in the study felt that getting ahead on who you know is a “dirty tactic” and the way to the top is through hard work.Extending beyond the mentor relationship, sponsors can have a big impact on your career and work satisfaction.

So what do sponsors do? Hewlett’s research found that sponsors:

• Advocate for your next promotion
• Call in favours for you
• Expand your perception of what you can do
• Make connections to senior leaders

And how do you find one?

Connecting with a sponsor can happen through being identified as a “protege” or a high potential, by catching the eye of an executive. However, Hewlett recommends that those aspiring to senior roles should take a proactive approach and identify and actively cultivate a sponsor relationship and routinely “ask for career guidance, feedback and stretch assignments”.

Do you have a sponsor?  If not, is there someone in your organisation that you could cultivate a sponsor relationship with?

Source: "The Relationship You Need to Get Right" - HBR Magazine October 2011
Source: “The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Though the Last Glass Ceiling” - Center for Work-Life Policy

2011 Clare Burton Memorial Lecture - coming to a city near you!

The 2011 Clare Burton Memorial Lecture is touring Australian capital cities in October and November.  This year, Dr Cordelia Fine, will speak on:

"How the New Neurosexism Helps Sustain the Status Quo: 

Charting the journey from scanner to sound bite to society".  

It sounds fascinating and brain-bending!

For details of Dr Fine's lecture, read on...

For as long as there has been brain science there have been - in retrospect - misguided explanations and justifications of sex inequality: women's skulls are the wrong shape; their brains are too small; their hemispheres too unspecialised. These hypotheses eventually find themselves hurled on the scientific scrap heap - but not before they become part of cultural lore, and reinforce social attitudes about men and women in ways that hinder progress towards greater sex equality.

It is still happening.

In this lecture Cordelia will show how contemporary social attitudes about gender subtly shape the neuroscience of sex differences and, less subtly, its popularisation. These over-confident claims about 'his brain' and 'her brain' then reinforce old-fashioned gender stereotypes.  Evidence is growing that these stereotypes, invigorated by neurosexism, can influence attitudes and behaviours in the workplace in self-fulfiling ways. Neurosexism, in other words, helps to sustain the very differences it is supposed to explain.

About the speaker...

Dr Cordelia Fine is an academic psychologist and writer. Cordelia studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, followed by a M.Phil in Criminology at Cambridge University. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University College London. She is currently based at the University of Melbourne, as an Associate Professor in the Centre for Ethical Leadership at the Melbourne Business School.

If you want to read up before the lecture...


Cordelia has authored two books - her latest book Delusions of gender: How minds, society, and neurosexism create difference was short-listed for the Best Book of Ideas Prize 2011, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction 2011 and the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2010.
Cordelia is also the author of A Mind of Its Own: How your brain distorts and deceives.

Dates around Australia

• Wednesday 26th October - Melbourne
• Thursday 27th October - Sydney
• Monday 31st October - Adelaide
• Friday 4th November - Brisbane
• Friday 11th November - Perth

For details of these events, please visit the ATN WEXDEV site

2012 CME Women in Resources Awards - Nominations are open

This will be of interest to those of you working in the resource sector in Western Australia...

Nominations for the 2012 Chamber of Minerals and Energy Women in Resources Awards are being sought.  The awards recognise the contribution of outstanding women working in the WA resources sector and companies that are committed to enhancing the participation of women in the sector.

This year there are five award categories:

• Women in Resources Champion
• Outstanding Professional Woman
• Outstanding Young Professional (aged 34 years or under as at 31 December 2011)
• Outstanding Operator / Technician / Trade Woman
• Outstanding Company Initiative

For more information and to complete an online submission, visit the CME website. Entries are being accepted until COB Monday 7th November 2011.