NZ executive diversity 'must improve'

Women are severely under-represented in New Zealand's boardrooms, according to views expressed at a recent Equal Employment Opportunities Trust conference.

Susan Mackan, who is a non-executive director at the Bank of New Zealand, suggested that the lack of diversity in the country's leadership structures is "an inconvenient truth" that needs rectifying.

The event was held to publicise the commencement of the 'A Place at the Table' initiative, which is aiming to improve the gender-balance of New Zealand's boardrooms.

The Human Rights Commission discovered last year that 60 per cent of the country's top 100 New Zealand Stock Exchange companies have no female executives.

To alter this male-dominated landscape, delegates mooted the possibility of introducing diversity targets in corporate governance regulations and creating path-ways for third sector female executives to occupy positions in private companies.

Ms Mackan said: "If the representation of women on boards were a report card, it would say 'could do better'."

Earlier this year, Kate Sweetman, former editor of the Harvard Business Review, claimed that female executives can positively change the dynamics of corporations' boardrooms.