Boards battle to find balance

Women in Sport Aotearoa board member and former Black Fern Louisa Wall said the lack of women on New Zealand sporting boards comes down to their constitutions and the fact that many, New Zealand Rugby included, are run by the ‘‘old boys’ network’’.

‘‘The problem is, and I’ll be quite frank, there is an old boys’ network and the network just likes to employ each other,’’ Wall, the member of Parliament for Manurewa, told the Sunday StarTimes.

‘‘The reality is there are competent women and women who would easily be able to be part of the governance of this [NZ Rugby] board.

‘‘Sports bodies have constitutions that dictate the make up of a board. The NZR constitution needs to be amended.

‘‘Is there something in [NZR’s] constitution that actually inherently, structurally prohibits the ability of women to be elected? I believe it’s true for rugby.’’

Only seven of the 32 National Sporting Organisation (NSO) boards getting more than $50,000 in Government funding have female chairs.

As sports that receive more than $50,000 in Government funding are required to meet a quota of 40 per cent female representation on boards by December, 2021, a policy outlined in the Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation Strategy released by the Government in 2018. Of the 32 NSOs receiving the funding, 50 per cent are yet to meet the quota.

If the quota is not met, organisations risk losing funding.

Of the largest sports bodies, NZR has one of the lowest representations of women on the board. Former Black Ferns captain and current academic Dr Farah Palmer is the only woman on the NZR board.

Wall acknowledged NZR has been working hard to reflect the communities that participate in rugby, particularly Ma¯ori and Pasifika, but women were still under represented.

‘‘The reality about constitutional change . . . it’s not an easy thing to go through because they need buy in from the [provincial] unions. It’s not tokenism.’’ Wall said the answer was to amend the constitution, creating additional opportunities. ‘‘You keep the status quo, but you add to it, so people aren’t threatened,’’ she said.

NZR board chair Brent Impey said the organisation changed its constitution in 2017 to ‘‘open up opportunities for greater diversity’’.

‘‘New Zealand Rugby is committed to creating opportunities for women at all levels of rugby including governance,’’ he said. ‘‘This year with four seats on our NZ Rugby board available, we have a real focus on trying to increase female representation.’’

NZR has now received more nominations ‘‘than ever for women’’, which Impey said was ‘‘encouraging’’.

‘‘Our growth in female player numbers – almost one in five players is female – provides even greater impetus to make sure we have diverse representation in governance, at every level of rugby,’’ he said.

Diversity was more than just about gender, Impey said.

‘‘The diversity on rugby boards across New Zealand is also increasing, and currently 26 per cent of our board directors are diverse [gender and ethnicity],’’ he said. ‘‘At NZ Rugby we view diversity in the wider sense, and cultural diversity is also really important to us.’’

A number of sports bodies under the 40 per cent quota are going through constitutional changes, designed to increase the number of women appointed or elected to a board.

Among them are Squash NZ, Triathlon NZ, Indoor Bowls, the New Zealand Shooting Federation, Motorsport NZ and Motorcycling NZ, which has no female representation on its board.

Motorcycling NZ president

‘‘The problem is, and I’ll be quite frank, there is an old boys’ network and the network just likes to employ each other.’’ Louisa Wall

Noel May said the organisation’s constitution was a ‘‘draconian system’’ and the lack of women was a ‘‘big problem’’.

But he’s hoping to push through changes that would see equality on the board at the AGM in May.

Another big problem is women not putting their names forward for board roles.

Women were well represented at regional level but were not taking the step up to the top table, May said.

He is working with Sport New Zealand and ‘‘shoulder tapping’’ women to stand for higher roles.

Lack of applicants for board roles also adversely affected Tennis NZ, said chief executive Julie Paterson.

‘‘Tennis NZ was disappointed that we had no female nominations from regions in the last round of elections in October 2019, and we in fact dropped from three to two female board members,’’ she said.

‘‘We have also advised the regional boards that we are seeking female nominations as a priority and that we will work to support any training, if required, for those they propose.’’

The next Tennis NZ AGM is in October and Paterson is ‘‘confident’’ the organisation will meet the 40 per cent quota ‘‘if not this year, then most certainly next’’.

Athletics NZ also has a lack of female applicants for roles, with just 25 per cent of applications coming from women.

New Zealand Rugby League, which only has 12.5 per cent female representation on its board, has established a womenin-governance group to help reach the 40 per cent quota.

The NZRL is already a femaledominated workplace and more than 50 per cent of staff are Ma¯ ori or Pasifika, NZRL chief executive Greg Peters said.

While the organisation obtained a female board member only recently, Peters said the

NZRL had ‘‘full buy-in’’ regarding the quota.

‘‘It’s the right thing to do,’’ he said. ‘‘Sometimes you have to effect change.’’

Badminton NZ also hasn’t reached the quota yet, but chief executive Joe Hitchcock said the organisation was working with Women in Sport Aotearoa and a board internship had been established. Surf Lifesaving NZ also has an internship.

Hitchcock is adamant the quota will be met at the Badminton NZ AGM in two weeks.

Sport New Zealand, which oversees sport and recreation, is monitoring all sports bodies and board representation.

Sport NZ’s own board has a high proportion of women on it.

In January, former Olympic discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina¯ became the first Pasifika woman appointed, taking the number of women to five.

Sport NZ chief executive Peter Miskimmin said a number of boards were one or two female directors away from meeting the quota.

‘‘We continue to help some partners, including providing guidance on succession planning and specialist recruitment support to help them attract and appoint female directors,’’ he said.

‘‘Among our partners we see recognition of the need for strong, diverse and gender balanced leadership, and the belief that this will bring breadth of perspective, better decision-making and create stronger organisations.’’

He acknowledged there were potential barriers and Sport NZ is ‘‘working to address’’ them with the sports organisations.

Regarding the number of women putting themselves forward for board roles, he said there was not a ‘‘supply issue’’.

‘‘In 2019 we ran a special programme to accelerate the increase of women directors on sport and recreation boards, and this identified around 250 qualified female candidates.’’

‘‘It’s the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to effect change.’’ NZ Rugby League chief executive Greg Peters