Alberta’s boardroom diversity expands
The number of women on corporate boards in Alberta continues to rise, although the pace of appointments has slowed, new figures show. An Alberta Securities Commission report finds women hold 13 per cent of board posts at publicly traded companies in the province, up from 11 per cent in 2016 and nine per cent in 2015.
The survey of 148 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange found 58 per cent reported at least one female director, compared with 51 per cent in 2016 and 43 per cent in 2015. Fifty-seven per cent of the responding companies counted at least one female executive.
Progress appears to have slowed, however, as only one-quarter of 2017 board vacancies were filled by women, down from 32 per cent last year.
“It would appear that generally the trends are moving upwards and are encouraging, although certainly slower than we know a lot of constituents would prefer,” said Alison Trollope, the ASC’s director of communications and investor education.
Rules requiring publicly traded Alberta companies to disclose female representation on boards and within their executive ranks — through proxy circulars or annual information forms — took effect this year. Companies are also required to explain any policies or targets they have to increase the number of women in these roles. The ASC report said 95 per cent of companies complied with the disclosure requirement.
However, some have work to do when explaining how they intend to address diversity within their ranks, said Trollope.
“I think we saw that some issuers were doing the basics of what was required, but really the quality of the disclosure could be much improved and we’re working with those issuers to encourage that,” she said.
The ASC said the province’s largest firms continue to show the highest rate of board diversity. At the 60 biggest reporting companies, women held 24 per cent of board positions, as of March 31. All had at least two female directors, while 93 per cent reported at least one woman within their executive structure.
The latest report puts Alberta in closer alignment with national data which show women held 14 per cent of board positions across the country. Of the 660 Canadian companies reporting, about onethird have adopted specific policies regarding female representation on their board, according to the Canadian Securities Administrators.