Female director supports gender quota for boards

VIVIENNE RYANThe West Australian One of WA's few female directors yesterday threw her support behind mandatory quotas for women amid the growing debate over gender imbalance in the

boardroom and senior corporate ranks. Wesfarmers' non-executive director Diane Smith-Gander said quotas would inevitably be introduced in the next five years. "I am a great

believer in the use of quotas in certain circumstances," Ms Smith-Gander told a mainly female audience at a Women in Leadership lunch, hosted by KPMG, Westpac and Minter Ellison.

"A level playing field is a long way off," Ms Smith-Gander said. "I predict in the next five years quotas are inevitable in this country for board positions and senior

executives in order to achieve appropriate diversity." Ms Smith-Gander entered what she dubbed as an "exclusive club" last year when she was appointed to the board of

Wesfarmers, an ASX top-50 company. She said women were heavily underrepresented in the boardroom, making up only 8.3 per cent of ASX 200 company directors last year. Federal Sex

Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Brodrick last year called for quotas for women on boards. Also, the Australian Securities Exchange recently increased pressure on listed companies to

improve gender diversity by asking them to publish a gender breakdown of directors and senior staff. It stopped short of calling for quotas. Elsewhere, the Australian Institute of Company

Directors has launched a mentor program to encourage some of Australia's top executive women to get on to boards. Ms Smith-Gander said business should ensure the selection process for

board seats was fair and that women were placed in roles that allowed them to gain the necessary experience. "The most important thing is (the) selection and assessment processes,"

she said. "When you level out the playing field that way, then you start to see women get the roles that enable them to get the experience they need to be able to sit on boards.

"I think Perth is a boys' town but I think the boys in the club are actually very open to women who want to participate." GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR

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