KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — The 30% Club Malaysia, a global campaign to increase women representation on boards of directors and C-suites, observes that more organisations in Malaysia have embraced gender diversity on boards, an integral component of good corporate governance.
In a statement, co-founding chair Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar said statistics at the end of 2019 showed women representation on the top 100 public listed companies’ (PLCs) boards rose to 26.9 per cent, almost double what it was in 2015.
However, she said the percentage today has dipped slightly to 25.4 per cent, believed to be largely attributed to the change in the composition of the Top 100 companies, with several PLCs now in the Top 100 having no women on board.
The 30% Club hopes this is a temporary setback and will work towards helping to address the gap.
Nevertheless, according to Zarinah, Malaysia remains in the lead position among its peers in Asean; in fact Malaysia ranks second only to Australia in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Women representation on the boards of all the 900+ PLCs has also steadily increased to 17.2 per cent, an increase of 6.5 per cent from 2015,” she said.
“The road to achieving 30 per cent women on board has not been easy. The 30% Club Malaysia through its Board Mentoring Scheme has helped develop a broader pipeline of board-ready women candidates to be considered for board positions,” said PwC Malaysia partner and 30% Club Malaysia steering committee member Pauline Ho. — Bernama
