Women and Corporate Boardrooms
If you were to peek into the boardrooms of the nation, you would notice something - or someone - missing. Even though women have excelled in virtually every walk of life, they hold just 10 per cent of the seats on corporate boards of directors. In fact, 40 per cent of the top 500 Canadian companies have no women at...
If you were to peek into the boardrooms of the nation, you would notice something - or someone - missing. Even though women have excelled in virtually every walk of life, they hold just 10 per cent of the seats on corporate boards of directors. In fact, 40 per cent of the top 500 Canadian companies have no women at all on their boards. None.
Many studies have outlined the benefits of diversity in the boardroom...not just for the sake of social justice but because it is good for the bottom line. That message has not registered.
The Conference Board of Canada says that at the current pace of change, it will take 151 years to see gender parity on Canadian boards.
Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette is the Deputy Chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce and she is determined to speed things up. She thinks the best way to compel Canadian companies to increase the number of females on their boards is to pass a law.
Senator Hervieux-Payette spoke to guest host Laura Lynch from Montreal.