Women on Board

Despite the progress made in gender diversity, many executive teams and boardrooms across Singapore still lack female representation.

In their report, Women on Boards: Tackling the Issue, the Diversity Action Committee (DAC) claimed that there's good news and not-so-good news when it comes to female representation in boardrooms across Singapore.

The good news is that there is now widespread awareness to have more women on the board, and that there has been continuous growth in the past four years.

The not-so-good news is that it's not enough. Singapore is still behind many key developed markets, said the report, prompting key committee figures to comment that "Singapore's reputation as a financial centre is at risk."

The DAC, which was created in 2014 to specifically promote female representation in leadership positions, said that only 9.7% of companies have a gender diverse boardroom.

Compare that to the UK (21.9%), Australia (18.1%), and Hong Kong (12.1%) and the disparity is jarring.

Additionally, they found that when women do get promoted, their tenure is much shorter than that of their male counterparts.

Twenty-three per cent of male independent directors have been on board for more than 10 years, with the longest tenure reported at 45 years. On the other hand, only 8% of female independent directors have been on boards for more than 10 years. The longest tenure reported of a female director was 21 years, almost half that of her male counterpart.

Full article published in Human Resource Director Issue 2.4, November 2016 (www.hrdmag.com.sg)