Yahoo Finance ‘Absolute nonsense’: Only 12 female CEOs in Australia’s biggest 200 companies
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It’s often said that there are more men named Peter, David or John occupying the most senior positions at Australia’s biggest corporations – more than the total number of women in those roles.
And the number of women leading ASX200 companies isn’t improving – in fact, it’s getting worse, according to the 2019 Chief Executive Women (CEW) ASX200 Senior Executive Census released today.
“With few exceptions, progress towards gender balance at the executive level is slow, and at the very top it has gone backwards,” said CEW president Sue Morphet.
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“Twelve CEO roles are held by women across the ASX200, down from 14 in 2018.
“And of the 25 new CEOs appointed over the past year, only two were women, and 23 were men.”
More women are needed at the CEO level among ASX200 companies in order to drive better gender balance across other key leadership positions, such as chief operating officer or group executive.
“While it is a small sample, the Census indicates that companies with a woman CEO have greater gender balance in their line roles compared to companies led by a man,” Morphet said.
The number of women in CFO roles has risen to 16 per cent from 12 per cent last year, revealing “encouraging progress,” she added.
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But there are still 17 of Australia’s biggest companies that don’t have a single woman on their executive leadership team.
“That 17 companies in the top 200 don't have one woman in their whole workforce good enough to go to senior executive level is nonsense, absolute nonsense,” Morphet told SMH.
Who are the 12 women leading ASX200 companies in 2019?
Shemara Wikramanayake – Macquarie Group
Elizabeth Gaines – Fortescue Metals
Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz – Mirvac
Jayne Hrdlicka – The A2 Milk Company
Alison Watkins – Coca-Cola Amatil
Jolie Hodson – Spark New Zealand
Marnie Baker – Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
Jeanne Johns – Incitec Pivot
Katie Page – Harvey Norman
Kate McKenzie – Chorus
Margaret Kennedy – Viva Energy
Amanda Lacaze – Lynas
Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit is on the 26th of September 2019 at the Shangri-La, Sydney. Check out the full line-up of speakers and agenda for this groundbreaking event here and buy tickets here.
