Corporate Australia has set a record for the number of female directors joining big company boards, but they remain greatly outnumbered by men.
Figures compiled by the Australian Institute of Company Directors show a record 65 women joined the boards of ASX200 companies last year — six more than last year.
Women now make up a record 13.5 per cent of ASX200 directorships — a figure that, while still low, is a substantial lift on last year's 8.4 per cent. The number of women on ASX200 boards is now 140, with those women holding 199 positions.
The rise in women on corporate boards comes in the wake of new Australian Securities Exchange diversity guidelines, which take effect this financial year and will force companies to disclose the number of women on staff, in senior management and on the board. It also follows warnings from the federal government that gender quotas may be considered if corporate Australia does not improve the diversity of big company boards.
AICD chief executive John Colvin said the size of the move — 29 per cent of ASX200 appointments this year were women, compared with 25 per cent last year — had surprised him.
"You are talking about 30 per cent of all new board appointments being female and I think that is an extraordinary change," he said.
"The directors themselves have got behind it, changing the culture of their own boards and that sends a message not just in their own companies, but I think Australia-wide."
Federal sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said the challenge now was making sure the numbers continued to rise. "The US has been sitting at 15 per cent for the last decade," she said. "The real issue here is, will we just plateau at 14 per cent?"
The momentum for change has been pushed along by influential company director Jillian Segal, who urged the federal government to clearly link its procurement policies with active diversity targets. She criticised the present situation, in which companies receiving government contracts had to be in "good standing" with the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workforce Agency, but there was no target.
"I'm very keen to see the government coming out this year and tightening or clarifying procurement guidelines," she said.
"Companies in receipt of government contracts, or funding, should have active targets in place to achieve 30 per cent women on their boards, 30 per cent of their managers, and 30 per cent of their workforce by 2014-15."
EOWA director Helen Conway confirmed there were "no specific targets" in the agency's requirements. And she said even the existing rules, set by the Department of Finance, were not effectively enforced.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Finance said in a statement there was no intention to introduce a target. Suppliers were expected to comply with the EOWA requirements.