Research Report Toward Gender Parity : Women On Boards Initiative Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, Office for Women October 2016 Towards Gender Parity: Women On Boards Initiative Contents Glossary ..................................................................................................................................... i Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Executive summary ......................................................................................................... 2 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Women On Boards Initiative ............................................................................................. 8 2.2 Purpose .......................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Approach ........................................................................................................................ 10 2.4 Structure of this report ................................................................................................... 11 3 Benefits from gender diversity on boards ...................................................................... 12 3.1 Evidence that board gender parity impacts on organisational performance ..................... 13 3.2 The impact of board gender diversity on an organisation’s financial performance ........... 14 3.3 The impact of board gender diversity on an organisation’s social performance ................ 16 3.4 Exploring the mechanism behind board gender diversity and board effectiveness ........... 18 3.5 The importance of an inclusive board environment ......................................................... 20 4 Survey analysis of Queensland Government boards ...................................................... 25 4.1 Indicators of high performing boards .............................................................................. 26 4.2 Current state of Queensland Government boards ........................................................... 28 Overview of survey result ................................................................................................ 30 4.1 30 4.2 Detailed analysis of survey results ................................................................................... 33 5 Economic benefits to Queensland from achieving gender parity on boards ................... 42 5.1 Queensland economic climate ........................................................................................ 43 5.2 How financial benefits can arise from diversity and inclusion ........................................... 45 6 Barriers and enablers to achieving gender parity ........................................................... 51 6.1 Barriers to achieving gender parity on boards.................................................................. 52 6.2 Overcoming the barriers to gender parity ........................................................................ 63 7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 66 8 Looking forward ............................................................................................................ 70 Appendix A : Methodology ...................................................................................................... 70 A.1 Purpose and objectives ........................................................................................................ 73 A.2 Literature scan strategy ....................................................................................................... 73 A.3 Primary research strategy .................................................................................................... 76 About the survey ....................................................................................................................... 77 Your involvement ...................................................................................................................... 77 Your privacy ............................................................................................................................... 77 Deloitte Access Economics Contact ............................................................................................ 77 Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. 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Please see www.deloitte.com/au/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms. © 2016 Deloitte Access Economics Pty Ltd Towards Gender Parity: Women on Boards Initiative Toward Gender Parity : Women On Boards Initiative General information .................................................................................................................. 78 About your board ...................................................................................................................... 79 Inclusion within your board ....................................................................................................... 82 A.4 Economic modelling process ................................................................................................ 85 Limitation of our work ............................................................................................................... 90 Charts Chart 4.1 : Percentage of boards with female representations by Portfolio ............................. 29 Chart 4.2 : Boards that have achieved gender parity ............................................................... 31 Chart 4.3 : High performing Queensland Government boards– perceived degree of gender diversity and inclusion on the board and in the broader organisation ..................................... 35 Chart 4.4 : High performing Queensland Government boards – percentage of men/women and perceived degree of commitment to diversity and inclusion ................................................... 36 Chart 4.5 : Low performing Queensland Government boards – percentage of men/women and perceived degree of commitment to diversity and inclusion ................................................... 37 Chart 4.6 Proportion of survey respondents ‘High performing’ boards vs. ‘low performing’ boards with diversity and inclusion ......................................................................................... 38 Chart 5.1 : Percentage change in multifactor productivity and GVA by hours worked .............. 44 Chart 5.2 : Contribution to Queensland’s GSP from 2007/08-2014/15 ..................................... 44 Chart 5.3 : GVA attributable to each worker ............................................................................ 46 Chart 5.4 : Percentage of GVA estimated attributable to boards by industry ........................... 47 Chart 5.5 : GVA by private/public sector split .......................................................................... 47 Chart 5.6 : Uplift in GVA per worker in 2014/15 by industry, dollars ........................................ 48 Chart 5.7 : GVA improvement in Queensland by industry, $millions ........................................ 49 Chart A.1 : Percentage of female directors on ASX 200 boards ................................................ 89 Tables Table 5.1 : Proportion of board roles held by females ............................................................. 48 Table 6.1 : Overcoming the barriers to gender parity using the seven facets framework ......... 64 Table 6.2 : Survey responses connection to the seven facets ................................................... 65 Table A.1 : Data sources .......................................................................................................... 74 Table A.2 : Search terms ......................................................................................................... 75 Table A.3 : Proportion of board roles held by females in 2012 ................................................. 89 Towards Gender Parity: Women on Boards Initiative Toward Gender Parity : Women On Boards Initiative Figures Figure 2.1 : Queensland Government gender equality priority areas ......................................... 9 Figure 3.1 : Benefits of achieving gender diversity on boards .................................................. 14 Figure 4.1 : Indicators of effectiveness of high performing boards ........................................... 27 Figure 4.2 : Perceived degree of diversity in the responding organisations .............................. 32 Figure 4.3 : Perceived degree of inclusion in responding organisations.................................... 33 Figure 4.4 : What factors do you believe are most impactful in achieving gender parity on boards? ................................................................................................................................... 39 Figure 4.5 : Top five drivers of women on boards vs. proportion of boards members who ‘strongly agree’ with these statements ..................................................................................