Minister for Women announces record share of leadership roles held by women

Thursday, 20 June 2019

Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter hopes the private sector will follow the government's example of prioritising women in leadership.

Women's representation on state boards and committees has reached record highs, and Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter challenged the private sector to follow the government's example.

In July last year, Genter announced an all-of-government target to have 50 per cent of seats on state sector boards and committees occupied by women by 2021.

'We have increased women on boards to a record level 47.4 per cent for 2018, up from 45.7 per cent in 2017,' she said.

'More diverse leadership in organisations results in better decision making, better organisational resilience and better performance,' she said.

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'It also opens up more opportunities for women to succeed and contributes to a more inclusive and fairer society.'

Genter has led the drive to lift women's representation in government leadership roles, but insists that the rise in the hiring of women is not the result of discrimination against male candidates for jobs.

It was instead the result of confronting unconscious biases, and looking harder for experienced women candidates for roles.

And in each case the aim was to hire the best candidate for the job.

More than 2600 appointments were made to state sector boards every year, ranging from appointments to large state-owned enterprises down to much smaller conservation boards and community trusts.

In some sectors of government, such as transport and building, women continued to make up only a small minority of board and committee members, Genter said.

In others, like education and health, it was men who were in the minority.

The race is on between the Australian ASX and the New Zealand NZX to get a higher proportion of women on boards. Earlier this year, 27 NZX-listed companies had no women on their boards.

'In education and health it could almost go the other way. We have got heaps of women, and if anything, we have to appoint more men,' Genter said.

The department where there was the biggest gain for women was Conservation, where women went from occupying 37 per cent of board and committee seats in 2017 to 45 per cent in 2018.

Julie Ann Genter with her baby boy Joaquin.

By achieving leadership equality for women in government, Genter hopes to speed up the gender revolution taking place in the private sector.

'By making sure the public sector has equal representation at the top, we want to inspire the private sector to lift its game,' she said.

The New Zealand stock exchange tracks gender diversity, but has relatively high numbers of companies without women on their boards, something that has become unacceptable in countries like the UK.

'We're encouraging organisations across New Zealand to challenge current workplace cultures and support women into leadership roles, not just because that's the fair thing to do, but also because diversity helps organisations function more effectively,' she said.

The next step in the government's plan is to turn the spotlight onto ethnic diversity.

'We are working towards having ethnicity data for boards available next year,' she said. 'This will give us better information about the ethnic makeup of our boards with a view to ensure diversity and representation of all New Zealanders.

'This government knows that boards should represent and reflect the communities they serve, and we are working towards that.'