Informa Australia is part of the Informa Connect Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

Leadership & Communication

Lack of female ASX 200 CEOs, data shows

4 Sep 2013, by Informa Insights

Leadership for Women training courseAustralia’s top companies lack women in the most senior job roles, new official figures suggest.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Gender Indicators data found there were just seven female chief executive officers (CEOs) in the top 200 companies in Standard & Poor’s ASX stock market index last year.

This compared with 195 males in similar roles on the ASX 200, which contains some of Australia’s most profitable enterprises, including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fairfax Media.

In percentage terms, this means women made up 3.5 per cent of CEOs in the index, whereas men constitute 96.5 per cent.

Despite this, the numbers were an improvement on last year, when three per cent of chief execs were females.

The figure was also more than double the 1.3 per cent recorded in 2002, although 2003 was the year with the highest percentage of women leaders at 4.1 per cent.

Data for board director positions showed greater improvements, with 12.3 per cent of these roles in ASX 200 companies being held by women, compared with 8.4 per cent in 2011.

Similarly, 11.5 per cent of executive managers at these organisations are women, while the proportion of firms with at least one female in such a role was 51 per cent last year.

Women fared better in government, but equal representation still fell short of the mark, with 61 per cent of Commonwealth government board positions held by men.

This gap widened for chair and deputy chair roles, with men filling nearly 72 per cent of these seats.

The sector with the least disparity was public services, as 46 per cent of women held executive level manager positions in these organisations, although this slumped to just below 40 per cent for senior executive management roles.

 

Blog insights you may like

Get all the latest on Informa news and events

Informa Connect Australia is the nation's leading event organiser. Our events comprise of large scale exhibitions, industry conferences and highly specialised corporate training.

Find out more

Subscribe to Insights
SUBSCRIBE 

Join Our Newsletter
Informa Insights

Stay up-to-date with all the latest
updates, upcoming events & more.
close-link