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Praise for NZX gender diversity rule

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Praise for NZX gender diversity rule

3News NZ

Women hold only 9.3 percent of directorships in the entire private sector, the Ministry of Women's Affairs says (file)

Women hold only 9.3 percent of directorships in the entire private sector, the Ministry of Women's Affairs says (file)

Women hold only 9.3 percent of directorships in the entire private sector, the Ministry of Women's Affairs says.

Most of the NZX's top 100 companies don't have any and women account for just 21 percent of management positions reporting directly to chief executives.

The ministry says NZX's new diversity listing rule will help change that.

It was announced yesterday and companies with a balance date on or after December 31 have to comply.

Their annual reports must provide a gender breakdown of their directors and officers.

The ministry's acting chief executive, Kim Ngarimu, says it follows the launch of the 25 Percent Group last month.

The group includes the chairs, directors and chief executives of 12 leading organisations and is committed to achieving 25 percent female participation on private sector boards by 2015.

"Initiatives such as these will lead to more opportunities for women on boards and to improve corporate performance," Ms Ngarimu said today.

NZN

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Comments

5/07/2012 4:04:51 p.m.

Nik T wrote:

I am sure that there are plenty of women who are more than suitable for these positions... And I am sure that in some cases a man may get hired over a woman, simply because he is a man. However, the problem with such initiatives is that this problem may simply get reversed... What happened to best person for the job?? Why should a woman get hired simply because the company is being trying to fill a quota? Many years ago I was once out forward (by WINZ) for a job. Once at the interview I realized I was there because my WINZ rep thought I was part Maori, which I am not (I am a bit darker through Italian descent) I walked out in disgust. Employment should not be based on race or sex - silly quota filling! Woman are catching up anyway through their hard work and changing opinions of employers. Hell, I have 2 tertiary qualifications, my wife has nil - Shes the main bread winner!!! Oh and sometimes woman get hired for being pretty - an advantage men rarely get!

5/07/2012 3:28:26 p.m.

Mike wrote:

When a business looks at hireng they will look at experience, qualifications, and how long they expect to hold that person.

The stats dont favour women because of those same reasons. Females are more likely to take leave for like maturnity/parental leave. This is bad for business as they will need to re-hire etc if it happens. Experience is another problem as often females will have taken leave, like for maturnity breaks.

Till society address those issues it wont magically fix the problem. Some Sci-fi has looked at addressing such problems, with like contraceptives/contracts - but we all know that wont be popular. We also need to encourage more men to take time off (like parental leave which is skewed towards females) so to business the difference between hiring a male or female is closer. If we close the difference gap, we will close the hiring/pay gap.

The above addresses no cause of the gap, so it will fail and blame men for it.