Unfortunately there are still attitudes about gender and diversity that create barriers to women taking up board roles, writes Julie Hardaker
Opinion: Strategic Pay's 2022 survey of public and private sector directors pay reports the gap between men and women directors has increased to 22 percent and is up to 23 percent for chairs – from 12 percent in the previous year.
These are startling results. Surely the gender pay gap isn’t going backwards.
There are several issues at play here; the significant difference between the public and private sectors when it comes to gender representation as directors and chairs, and the static position of lower pay for public sector directors and chairs.
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There has been considerable advancement in gender equality on public sector boards and committees. The Ministry for Women’s 2020 public sector stocktake recorded female representation had reached 50.9 percent.
As at December 2020 women held 1,314 of the 2,579 roles. And out of the 478 new appointments made in the public sector during 2020, 263 of them were women. The stocktake also recorded 40 percent of chairs are women, up from 34.5 percent in 2018.
Private sector boards are not achieving the same results. While gender balance is improving, it is at a considerably slower pace, some would say a glacial pace. The Strategic Pay survey reports private sector female representation on boards sits at 30% in 2022, which is considerably lower than the public sector.
The New Zealand Stock Exchange diversity reporting to September 2021 shows overall 24.5 percent of directors were female. With the S&P/NZX50 showing steady improvement each year at 32.9 percent, the goal is to reach 40 percent by 2026.
Pay for directors and chairs in the public sector has remained generally static in the last few years and is lower paid that the private sector, in some cases considerably lower. Covid-19 has also influenced the willingness to increase directors pay.
Women have greater representation on boards and in chair roles in the public sector compared to the private sector, where the pay is lower.
When women are equally represented on private sector boards and in chair roles, these pay gaps should disappear.
The answer is more women on private sector boards where the pay is higher.
Entry barriers to private sector boards still exist for women, and much more so for women with ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately there are also still attitudes from some about gender and diversity that create barriers and discourage women from taking up board roles.
Capable and talented women can be overlooked when we know there is enormous value added to the performance of boards by having gender diversity at the board table.
The Deloitte Global Women in the Boardroom: A global perspective report which includes information on New Zealand boards up to 2021, found that the world could expect to reach near to board gender parity in 2045, more than 20 years from now.
There is no mandatory requirement for boards to have gender or diversity balance, or to report on this. Something to think about.
