SINGAPORE: Women make up just 6.9 per cent of board
members of listed companies on the Singapore Exchange
(SGX).
This compares poorly with the rest of the region and
the world where figures of female participation in the boardroom
are over 10 per cent.
The findings came in the first Board Diversity
Report to track gender diversity in SGX-listed boardrooms.
Speaking at the launch of the report on Tuesday, Minister of State
for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob described
the situation as "dismal".
Citing figures, she said Norway has the highest rate of women in
the boardrooms at 40 per cent with Sweden at 27.5 per cent.
Madam Halimah said other Asian countries have also done better than
Singapore.
In Hong Kong and China, the figures are 8.6 per cent and 8.1 per
cent respectively.
Malaysia also fared better with a female representation rate of 7.8
per cent.
The report is a joint collaboration between BoardAgender, an
outreach arm of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations, and
the NUS Centre for Governance, Institutions and
Organizations.
Madam Halimah said while Singapore women have achieved much
progress in education and at work, they continue to face obstacles
in rising to top leadership positions in the corporate world.
She called on government-linked companies and Temasek-linked
companies to take the lead and support the appointment of more
women to their boards.
The study showed that property, transport, storage and
communications sectors have the highest female representation in
the Singapore boardrooms at 9.4 per cent.
The finance sector had the poorest representation with just 5.2 per
cent.
Women were also better represented among executive directors than
non-executive directors.
The average age of women directors in Singapore is 48 years
compared to 53 for males.
The report, to be published annually, will look at gender diversity
in boardrooms of all firms listed on the SGX.
The first report released on Tuesday covered the 2008 to 2010
period and included more than 700 companies and over 5,000
directorships in each year.
- CNA/ck/fa