“I applaud the recent extensive coverage of the appointment of Jill Ker Conway as the Chair-elect of Lend Lease,” said the Director of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, Fiona Krautil.

“However, the problem I have is that there are not enough female Managing Directors or Board appointments in this country given Australia has a wealth of female talent at senior executive level,” Ms Krautil said.

She said it was concerning that the majority of Australia’s top 300 companies did not have representation of women on their boards.
“Less than seven percent of the directorships on the boards of public listed and private companies are held by women,” Ms Krautil said.
“I am even further concerned that only 2.3 percent of all directors in Australia’s top 50 private companies are women.”

Of the more than 100 executives of listed Australian companies earning more than $1 million in salary and bonuses, not one is a woman.

Ms Krautil asked whether these statistics truly reflected the wealth of female executive talent. “I think not,” she said.

“I challenge those companies which have made significant inroads to encourage women into middle management positions to look at strategies which will allow women to achieve their full potential at the executive level.

“And I say to those companies which tell me they can’t find any female executives – call me, as there is an abundance of female executive talent in this country,” Ms Krautil said.

She said the question must be posed as to why these companies are excluding people who could very well be the best candidate for an executive position.

She said the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency is working hard to show Australian employers the bottom line advantages of implementing family-friendly work practices and actions to provide an inclusive workplace for all employees, including women.

“A new index on the US stock market, which follows the top 30 companies led by women, found that those companies out-perform the Dow-Jones Industrial Average.

“An US study has shown that while poor diversity performers earned an average eight percent return on investment, excellent diversity performers rated a significantly higher return of eighteen percent,” Ms Krautil said.

In a recent study by Catalyst, a US research company, 325 CEO’s and more than 10,000 female executives were asked the question “What holds women back from advancement?” The response differed markedly between these the two groups. 

For female executives the main issue was male stereotyping and preconceptions (52%), exclusion from informal networks (49%) and lack of significant general management or line experience (47%) following closely behind. 

For the CEO’s the most pressing barrier to women’s advancement was the lack of significant general management or line experience (82%).

This was followed by women not being in the pipeline long enough (64%); male stereotyping and preconceptions (25%).

The other significant barrier to women’s advancement in the Catalyst Study was an inhospitable corporate culture.

“This research reflects my Australian experience, that what the women say and the CEOs say differ markedly. What you see here is a catch 22”, said Ms Krautil.

“It is true that women are not getting the experience they need in line & general management roles and this is because of all the issues the women cite - the male stereotyping and exclusion from the informal networks. 

“There is a need for business to take a risk with women, like they take a risk with men, and ensure they get exposure and executive development in the operational areas of business. Don’t just allow them in Human Resources and Public Relations – make sure they get a well-rounded business exposure. How many businesses have currently strategies like that in place?

“For effective diversity change to occur, initiatives must be based on leadership commitment and action from the top and accountability down through each level of management for making it happen”, said Ms Krautil.

These issues will be also discussed in a week long series of programs, called Catalyst for Change between March 27-31. The Catalyst for Change program is organised by Catalyst, the US-based research organisation, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, the Council for Equal Opportunity in the Employment LTD, the National Diversity Think Tank and Work+Life Strategies.

back to top