"Congratulations to CEW and Bain on another excellent report; beautifully presented and clearly telling a story we wish were not so - just 25% of women occupy executive leadership roles in the ASX200. This is 5% fewer than the number of women on ASX200 boards, which is still 10% short of the magic 40:40:20 gender balance Women on Boards has advocated and worked hard to achieve for years."
Claire said a major question that needed to be asked when considering the findings of the report, was 'what is the role of executive search firms in these continued low numbers?'
"Given that all ELT and CEO roles would be recruited by an executive search firm or head hunter and a short listed presented to the client for interview - at what stage is the process falling down," she asked.
"Is it the wording of the job description, the avenues the role is (or is not) advertised, the poor brief from the ASX200 client that fails to push the recruiters to find women to put on the short list, poor selection and recruitment processes that favour existing male C Suite candidates or just good old fashioned bias" she said.
Given there are a number of recruiters we know are working very hard in the board space to present a balanced slate of experienced and gender diverse candidates, it was a bit of a mystery as to why women continue to be overlooked for top line roles.
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Women's Agenda had to say
WOB advocates for 40:40:20 across board and leadership positions.
