Australian mining firm IPOs lag on board gender balance
New Australian stock exchange listings are lagging the broader market in terms of board gender diversity, with just 12.2% of directorships at companies that went public in recent years held by women.
The issue was particularly acute for the materials industry. The sector, which accounted for nearly half of the 401 ASX listings between 2019 and 2022, had only 5% of board seats held by women, the Australian Institute of Company Directors Gender Diversity Progress Report showed, citing data from OpenDirector.
That contrasts with more established companies, with 35.1% of board positions at Australia’s 200 largest listed companies held by women on September 1, the report said.
There is “a tendency to increase the proportion of women on IPO boards in the years following their listing,” said Mark Rigotti, CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. “This seems to indicate either a late recognition or late effort to redress the imbalance.”
Companies need to consider board composition as early as possible in the listing process to optimize their skillset and diversity, said Nicola Wakefield Evans, chair of the 30% Club Australia, in the report. The 30% Club advocates for a minimum of 30% of board and C-suite roles to be held by women.
The mining industry, a key pillar of the nation’s economy, has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for its treatment of women, following an inquiry into cases of abuse of workers at companies including BHP Group Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Leading condition monitoring specialists, WearCheck, help boost machinery lifespan and reduce catastrophic component failure through the scientific...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
