Public, private sectors need shove on gender representation

No one has yet come up with a decent justification for the continuing dearth of female leaders in the public and private sectors. And so, it is time for some gentle shoving here and there.

It is stating the obvious to say women make up half the population and deserve equal representation on councils that wield power. Moreover, studies show boards of directors with more women lead companies that are more profitable, possibly because policies and practices are better crafted to serve the needs of both genders.

For the same reason, political bodies that are equitably represented have an advantage.

It is thus in everyone’s interest that women be encouraged and even actively recruited to serve as political representatives and as corporate directors.

The numbers show much remains to be done in this area, even in a socially progressive province such as B. C.

Three UBC students, along with Equal Voice — a nonpartisan group dedicated to electing more female politicians — examined the results of the recent B. C. municipal elections. They discovered that while things are improving, they are still not great.

In B. C., 28 per cent of mayors and 39 per cent of councillors were women. This is a better degree of representation than in Canada’s provincial legislatures, where 36 per cent of members are women, and federally, where 25 per cent of MPs are female.

Vancouver has never had a female mayor, while Christy Clark is just B. C.’ s second female premier ( after Rita Johnston, who was never elected by the public).

Clark has appointed eight women to her 20- member cabinet and tries to ensure a third of the members of publicly appointed boards are women.

The inroads made in the political realm look pretty good next to the corporate world, which has been much slower to embrace gender equality. The situation on this front is particularly poor in B. C., with 6.6 per cent of board membership being female among the top 100 public companies, compared to 12.3 per cent of directors of companies in the S& P/ TSX composite index. Some examples: Two women sit on the 10- person BC Hydro board, though Hydro has a female CEO.

TransLink has three women among its 11 board members. ICBC has four female board members among 10.

Of 14 Telus board members, two are female. Of 14 Teck board members, four are women. None of the eight Canfor board members is a woman. Goldcorp has two women among 10 board members and First Quantum Minerals has a nine- member all- male board.

B. C.’ s premier last week lamented what she called “terrible efforts” by the private sector to recruit women to corporate boards. The New Democratic Party’s Adrian Dix called it “the old boys’ network at play.”

Despite the apparent lack of action, Clark said she prefers not to follow the lead of seven provinces that have adopted a requirement for companies to disclose policies aimed at increasing female representation on boards.

Clark should revisit her approach a year from now and, if the gender imbalance has not improved, give decision- makers a nudge with introduction of a similar disclosure requirement.