Boards need to lift their game on gender: APRA

Australia is still lagging behind international standards when it comes to gender diversity on company boards, according to new research from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

Concentrating on the superannuation industry, the report found that while the number of women on boards has improved over the past five years, most superannuation trustees would not meet the current goal of a 40 per cent female board as set out in the Cooper Review.

Licensed trustees currently have an average of less than 20 per cent of women on their boards, while ASX100 boards hover at around 10 per cent.

The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) chief executive Fiona Reynolds welcomed the research, which she said added weight to calls for a minimum of 40 per cent of females on all company and superannuation fund boards.

“While super funds are going better than corporate Australia … we shouldn’t be celebrating this,” Reynolds said.

“It’s fine for us to have high expectations for the companies we, as funds, invest in, but we too have to meet these expectations.”

“Superannuation funds and sponsoring organisations need to do more to promote women as directors on their boards. They need to be up-skilling the next generation of potential directors,” she said.