Dame Patsy pushes for board diversity
New Zealand Rugby’s risk of losing Sport NZ funding for not meeting the required 40% women on sports boards quota is ‘‘greatly concerning’’ to Dame Patsy Reddy.
NZR is the only major sports board that failed to hit the target by December 2021. Sport NZ is to discuss next week how much funding rugby will lose because it has not met the quota.
Former governor-general Reddy who was appointed to the NZR board in April, said rugby’s governance model is ‘‘unusual’’, and while NZR hasn’t hit the required quota, it is very diverse.
‘‘I’m a big supporter of the quota, but we have to live in the real world. You have to make sure you’re not simply ticking boxes,’’ she said at NZR’s inclusive governance summit in Wellington yesterday.
‘‘40% is still something we should be keen to achieve. We are making broader rugby environment members aware of the issues, and hopefully they will see women are adding value to the game.’’
The appointment of Reddy and Rowena Davenport this year has lifted female representation on the nine-person board to 33%.
NZR board member and Mᾱori Rugby Board chair Dr Farah Palmer said it’s not good enough that the 40% gender quota hasn’t been met.
‘‘It’s nice to have the Sport NZ target to keep us honest, and keep us focused on this kaupapa. I don’t see this as a quota, I see it as a ‘remember that this is good business and good governance,’’ she said.
‘‘We have three wa¯ hine there now, as voting members, and we realise we need more diversity, so we’ve looked around and have . . . an emerging director. We’re not there yet, but we are making steps to get there.’’
Dr Sally Shaw, who explored women in rugby and boards, said her research shows women want to be on rugby boards, and for the sport to have more women’s directors, more space needs to be made for them.
‘‘What surprised me was that while on the surface women in general felt they were welcome in board positions ... once they were there they started to feel those traditional constraints, like the old boys’ network,’’ she said.
‘‘Keep making space for women on boards, we have got to do a better job of having our 50% of our general population contributing to sport on boards.’’
Institute of Directors chief executive Kirsten Patterson said NZR has to make hitting the government’s quota a priority.
‘‘There’s no shortage of . . . great talent out there, so if they can review their constitutions and appointment processes, there’s great talent ready to be appointed right now,’’ she said.
‘‘Often we don’t reflect on governance practices . . . ‘how are we going as a board, what does ‘good’ look like, how do we get better at that?’. We do that in sport for our teams, we need to treat boards like sports teams and drive high performance.’’
Rugby’s provincial unions have also been given a target of 50% diversity by the end of 2024. MidCanterbury’s Tanya Dearns – one of only three female provincial union chief executives – said women are well represented on her board, but the next challenge will be to engage with Pasifika communities.
Rugby as a whole can change for the better when it comes to governance, she said.
‘‘There’s been a lot of conversations being had, and a lot of head-nodding. It’s a good indication that people are starting to . . . actively listen, not just nodding for ticking the box.’’