You won’t believe how many women there are in Singapore board rooms

Female representations may be low across all sectors but if you think women have no say in executive positions, think again.

According to a release, today marks the launch of the inaugural edition of the Board Diversity Report, a collaboration between the NUS Business School’s Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO) and BoardAgender. To be published annually, this is the only report that looks at gender diversity in the boardrooms of all firms listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). It covers the 2008 to 2010 period, including more than 700 companies and over 5,000 directorships in each year.

The study found that gender diversity in SGX-listed boardrooms remained low across all sectors, with 6.9% female representation in 2010. However, across sectors, women were better represented in executive directorships compared to non-executive directorships. The level of female representation in executive directorships, at 9.1%, was higher compared to non-executive directorships, at 5.6%.

By sector, the property as well as transport, storage and communications (TSC) industries had the most females in their boardrooms. Yet, despite coming top in the report, only 9.4% of board members in these industries were women. The lowest score of 5.2% went to the finance sector.

Overall, the percentage of board seats held by females in Singapore remains low compared to both developed and countries in the region, although there has been a marginal increase over the previous two years. Prior to 2010, females took 5.8% of all boardroom positions in SGX-listed companies in 2009, and 6.6% in 2008.

In contrast, studies show that the European Union, United States and Australia have more than 10% female participation in boardrooms. Firms in the region, such as those in Malaysia, Hong Kong and China, have also been found to have higher proportions of women directors compared to Singapore companies.

Other findings in the report include differences between female and male director profiles in terms of their average age and number of board seats they held. The average age of women directors in 2010 was 48 years compared to 53 years for males. Females also had fewer board directorships per person than their male counterparts, with women holding an average of 1.1 seats compared to 1.3 for men.

In board leadership positions, females were less likely than men to be chairmen of the board, chief executive officers, or chair of committees in the board. In 2010, 4.6% women held CEO positions and only 2.7% held the position of chairman. The figures reflect the globally low level of female representation at this leadership level, with 2.1% of board chairman seats internationally held by women.

Said Dr Marleen Dieleman, Associate Director of CGIO at NUS Business School: “The trends over the past three years do not give us grounds to assume that female representation on boards will improve rapidly, unless companies or policymakers take action to change the situation. Only 356 out of 5,138 board directorships were held by women in 2010. With board diversity rapidly becoming one of the standard metrics worldwide in measuring the quality of governance, we feel there is much room for improvement in Singapore.”

Ms Junie Foo and Ms Juanita Woodward, Co-Chairs of BoardAgender see this report as a crucial step in creating an awareness of women’s participation at senior levels in the Singapore business community. “Through this research and other BoardAgender activities, we endeavour to boost the dialogue in Singapore concerning the importance of human capital for corporate success: ensuring that there is a sufficient pipeline of qualified leaders and supporting a board nomination process that taps the most experienced and eligible business women and men.”