A board of directors is a company’s governing and controlling board and it provides effective corporate and entrepreneurial leadership. Collectively, a board must strike the proper balance in resolving challenges while also being responsible to its workers, business partners, and society at large. Board responsibilities are growing: not only do compliance and governance issues take up far more time these days, with boards under unprecedented scrutiny, but performance expectations have risen too, which means boards have to be more closely involved than ever before in developing and monitoring strategy. To achieve its primary goal of producing value, the boardroom is best served by having a diverse range of viewpoints, and also diverse in gender.

Today we see an increase in the number of females on boards compared to the previous years. According to our most recent assessment on the status of corporate governance, 14% of the boards do not have a female member, showing that women are still underrepresented at the highest levels of corporate leadership. However, the majority of organisations are now including females in their boards to make a diverse board. Women bring different and complementary perspectives and different leadership styles. There is a positive correlation between the proportion of women in executive committees/boards and progressive corporate performance. The hard facts are that there are currently far fewer women on boards of most companies. Beyond the competitive advantage, increasing the number of women on boards is essential for effective corporate governance. A high-performing board generates and implements the freshest and most inclusive ideas. When a gender imbalance exists, boards can easily fall into ‘group think’ and fail to see, and account for perspectives that might enhance company performance. Great ideas can arise only when a diverse pool of thought is active and present at the table.

Boards are increasingly recognising that gender diversity is imperative to a successful business, but more action is needed. While some boards already have a substantial representation of women, and a number have been adding women, they must make it an ongoing priority to increase the number of women on their boards. Without a deliberate plan, it could take generations to reach gender parity in the boardroom. 

Some of the benefits of having women representation on boards are:

ü  broadening company talent pool and even higher return on equity.

ü  Women contribute to board performance.

ü  Including women positively impacts how boards perform their tasks.

ü  Better communication

ü  Increased diligence in persuading or problem solving

ü  Women are adept at strategy development, improving corporate social responsibility, and monitoring management. They also offer insight into female customers.

ü  Women’s presence on boards contributes to cohesiveness.

If companies wish to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion across their whole organizations, they still need to take substantial steps to recruit and keep more women in boardrooms.

GLOBAL TREND ON FEMALE ON BOARDS

The global average of women on boards sits at just under 20% (19.7%), an increase of just 2.8 percentage since the last report, published in 2019 by Deloitte. Globally the percentage of women being appointed to directorships of listed companies around the world has increased over the past decade

The state of corporate governance report will be available in December, you can pre-order a copy of the 2022 State of Corporate governance through:

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