NZX takes a half step forward

Media Release
5 July 2012

NZX takes a half step forward

“The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) welcomes the NZX’s new gender reporting requirements but is disappointed they are a watered down version of the original proposals,” NCWNZ President Elizabeth Bang said today.

Elizabeth Bang was commenting on the NZX announcement that, subject to approval by the Financial Markets Authority, companies listed on the New Zealand stock exchange must now report on gender diversity.

“New Zealand is a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which promotes affirmative action to speed up gender equality. For decades NCWNZ has called for women to have an increased presence on boards and at the senior management levels of business,” said Elizabeth Bang.

“In our submission on NZX’s proposed diversity rules, we urged that listed companies be required to provide a breakdown of the gender composition of their board, senior management team and any subsidiary board. It is disappointing that NZX has stopped well short of this, dropping a proposal for companies to report on gender composition on subsidiary boards and narrowing the definition of senior management team.

“NCWNZ also urged that boards should be required to report on their performance against a formal diversity policy Again, the NZX rules fall short in not requiring all listed companies to have such a policy.”

NZX Chief Executive Tim Bennett has commented that it is important to give listed companies the flexibility to make their own decisions about whether a formal diversity policy is a priority for them at this stage. Elizabeth Bang said, “The obvious question is ‘why?’”

“Women make up less than 10% of the NZX top 100 company directors. Surely this tells us that a formal diversity policy should not be optional. NCWNZ will be closely watching which companies actually develop and implement a diversity policy.

“It should quickly become clear whether or not businesses are willing to take the necessary action to boost the number of women on boards, or if further action is needed to ensure that appropriate levels are met.”

“NCWNZ gives NZX muted applause for a positive initiative, albeit one that represents a half step forward and doesn’t go far enough,” concluded Elizabeth Bang.

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