Women make up 39% at board level, report finds

Kenneth Fox

A new report has found the proportion of women on the boards of the top 20 companies is now 39 per cent, which well exceeds the 33 per cent target set for 2023.

The latest Balance for Better Business report stated there has been good progress in of gender balance over the past year, noting the commencement of gender pay gap reporting, the agreement on the EU Directive for women on boards, and continuing strong participation of women in the Irish marketplace.

Overall representation remains at over 60 per cent and the participation rate for women in the 45-54 age range is topping 80 per cent.

Progress at the board level has continued to keep pace with expectations, with publicly listed company boards or ISEQ20 at 39 per cent and others listed at 28 per cent.

Private company boards have stayed relatively constant since last measured in 2021 at 22 per cent, and they will not meet their target this year.

They said continued focus at the board level is vital to ensure progress is consistent across all types of organisations and to ensure that the progress made is retained.

While overall representation on boards has improved, there continues to be a slower rate of progress in key decision-making roles, although again the landscape varies between company types.

Only two women chair publicly listed company boards, 5.7 per cent, but 12.8 per cent of private company boards have female chairs.

The challenge continues to be that the primary pipeline for chair roles is chief executive experience, and only three women have achieved that position in publicly listed companies.

Conversely, women are better represented as chief executives of private companies at 21 per cent, and as country heads of multinational companies at 18 per cent.

Meliosa O'Caoimh, chair of the 30% Club Ireland, which aims to increase gender diversity on boards and in senior management roles,  welcomed the report's findings.

Ms O'Caoimh said: “Seeing a consistent year-on-year increase in gender balance on boards here is an important progression, and the companies who are driving this change should be proud.

"Companies with more diverse boards are shown to outperform those with less diversity. However, progress at senior executive level - which is critical to both business success and board level talent - remains a constant watch, and constitutes a key feature of our actions within our agenda."