Australia: Women in Leadership Census published

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency has published the latest edition of its biennial Australian Women in Leadership Census: see here (pdf). The key findings are available here (pdf). The census examined the number of male and female board directors and executive key management personnel in ASX200 listed companies. The findings include the following (to quote directly from the census report):

• Women chair five boards and hold 8.4% of board directorships in the ASX 200 companies (123 seats out of 1467). This compares with 8.3% (125 seats out of 1504) reported in the 2008 Census, 8.7% (129 out of 1487) reported in 2006 and 8.2% (119 out of 1456) reported in 2004.
• In 7.0% of ASX 200 companies, 25% or more of the board directors are women. This is a return to just below the level of 2004 (7.1%). The increase to 12% in 2006 has not been sustained. In 13.0% of companies there are two or more women board directors, up from 11.5% in 2008 but still down from 13.5% in 2006.
• Industry groups with the highest percentage of women board directors were insurance, consumer services, banks, software and services, and diversified financials.