Singapore needs to work harder at having more female corporate directors, even as it has made some progress in making its boards more diverse.
Data show that as of June last year, women held just 12.2% of board seats among the Top 100 listed firms in Singapore. Among all listed companies, the ratio is even lower at 10.3%.
The Diversity Action Committee has set the target of 20% female representation among directors by 2020.
“This is far from optimal,” said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu, adding that an additional 130 female directors have to be appointed each year from now until 2020.
The goal is achievable if companies commit to the change.
"What it takes is for half of the companies on the Singapore Exchange, especially those without female directors, to each make an effort to appoint just one female director to their board," she said.
"Having female board members makes sound business sense, as they can bring diversity in views and ideas to the table. They can help manage gender-based opportunities and challenges. They can also add value to your policies and practices, providing perspectives from women, for women in the workplace.”
Singapore’s female labour participation rate grew from 57% in 2011 to 60.4% in 2016, and women make up 45% of the labour force today, according to The Straits Times.
The study was conducted by the Human Capital Leadership Institute and BoardAgender, who conducted 41 interviews with stakeholders of representative groups of firms from different industries.
These stakeholders warned against the danger of tokenism and spoke about the consequences of deviating from a meritocratic nomination process.
Don Chen, HCLI assistant vice president of knowledge and solutions and lead researcher of the project, said boards need to strike a balance between looking for candidates who fit their archetype to a “T” and [pursuing the] benefits of gender diversity.
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