By Amanda Morrall
Thirty women have been hand-selected for a mentoring programme run by the Institute of Directors (IoD) aimed at bridging the gender gap around New Zealand board tables.
The Mentoring for Diversity programme, which starts at the beginning of next year and runs for 12 months, will partner chosen candidates with 30 chairmen and senior directors of major New Zealand companies.
IoD president Denham Shale said the exchange would be mutually beneficial in that New Zealand's predominantly male-driven boards would gain a "greater understanding of the concerns and aspirations of senior women.''
The initiative comes on the back of calls by the NZX for listed companies to make public the number of women and minorities at senior levels.
According to the Human Rights Commission, women make up only 9.32% of directorships among New Zealand's listed companies.
By comparison, women in Australia make up 12.7% of the nation's top 200 listed companies.
Shale said research has shown that diversity brings a new dynamic to the boardroom with a ''different range of skill sets and perspectives which should ultimately lead to better governance and better company performance."
He said the institute was committed not only to boosting female participation at the senior levels but also promoting greater diversification in terms of age, ethnicity and background.
"Companies that embrace the principle of diversity and put it into practice invariably derive a comparative business advantage,” he said.
The 30 women selected to participate in the mentoring programme were hand-picked from more than 130 applicants by Shale, Ministry of Women’s Affairs boss Rowena Phair and Institute of Director CEO Ralph Chivers.
Shale said the successful candidates "already highly successful women" were looking to the programme as a way to build their networks, gain insights on how to position and present themselves to achieve NZX-listed or large company board positions.
11 Comments
Merit anyone!...if they are all "already highly successful women"...then why do they need the help of Shale, the govt bureaucrat and Chivers...? Or are these highly successful women heading for the expanded, some would say bloated, new privatised power company boards as directors with fat fees for doing next to nothing but rubber stamping..govt policy....
As for improving the performance of company directors on the NZX...I should think the current crop are in need of some serious improvement all round...and a little less of the fat fees...and a good deal more attention to the basic fact that the company is owned by the shareholders...not the directors.
All joking aside, Amanda, but you raise a very important point there. I don't know what it is, but senior management in this country (particularly the corporates) seem woeful at identifying and mentoring genuine real business talent. And I don't know why that is, but it is a real problem. As I have often said, New Zealand’s problems aren’t just a hangover of its years of socialism, but also it reflects the country’s very poor quality middle, upper and senior management.
Why all the fuss about women? What about all the other groups that are not properly represented on company boards? What about the lack of 18-24 year olds, the lack of racial balance, and where are the transgender people? Oops, silly me, I should have read it more carefully:
"He said the institute was committed not only to boosting female participation at the senior levels but also promoting greater diversification in terms of age, ethnicity and background."
At least they take these things seriously in the USA.
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