25 Percent Group Reports Three Year Progress

25 Percent Group Reports Three Year Progress

The 25 Percent Group has applauded the progress made by New Zealand’s largest publicly listed companies over the last three years towards achieving improved gender diverse boards whilst cautioning that there is still further room for improvement.

The 25 Percent Group launched in 2012, with the objective to focus attention on the economic rationale and need for far greater diversity around the board room tables of New Zealand’s largest public companies.

In the intervening three years, the 25 Percent Group has successfully developed a well-subscribed programme that includes:

• Establishing a voluntary code of conduct for recruitment agencies

• Contributing to the implementation of the NZX diversity reporting rule

• Leading conversations with politicians, professional directors and CEOs in many of New Zealand’s biggest public companies on the issue of gender diversity and improved transparency

If diversity is measured statistically, female participation on New Zealand’s largest public company boards has improved markedly over that three-year period. The rate of female participation on large public listed companies has now reached 55 out of a total 278 board seats or 20 percent.

Encouragingly, companies that listed on the NZX in the last two years have female participation rates approaching 25 percent.

The composition of boards of mixed ownership model companies has been an important example of the move toward more diverse and balanced board structures and this is now translating into standard practice in many new companies seeking listing on the NZX.

“The 25 Percent Group has helped ensure gender diversity is now a mainstream agenda item in both the public and private sectors. We have helped pave the way for a wide variety of other specific interest groups to form and develop a range of initiatives around gender diversity,” said Andrew Barclay, Convener of the 25 Percent Group and CEO of Goldman Sachs New Zealand.

The intention of the 25 Percent Group founders was for the organisation to establish a concrete programme with a finite three-year lifespan.

“With the initial work programme completed, now is the appropriate time to thank the members of the 25 Percent Group for their commitment and contribution to the initiative and encourage the establishment of other initiatives across the diversity spectrum,” Mr Barclay said.

-ENDS-

© Scoop Media