Bring Women On Board To Diversify Corporate Leadership, Says SC Chairwoman

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- A balanced and diverse board of directors can be achieved if Malaysian entities place sufficient focus on the recruitment and retention of the best people, including women, says Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia chairman Zarinah Anwar. She said the Corporate Governance Blueprint, launched by the SC earlier this year, expressed a goal for women participation on boards to reach 30 per cent by 2016. "Allow me to add that demographic characteristics of boards, in particular gender, does make a difference. "A balanced board and diverse corporate leadership made up of both capable men and women is important," she said at the Corporate Governance Week jointly organised by the SC and Bursa Malaysia Bhd (Malaysia Exchange) here Wednesday. Zarinah said in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, a survey of directors concluded that buy-in to corporate governance was significantly more widespread amongst women compared with men. "For example, 40 per cent of women directors surveyed believed that enhanced risk management is necessary to prevent further crisis while only one per cent of men did (the same). "Furthermore, 64 per cent of the women accepted their board appointments for the greater good of stakeholders," she said, adding that women directors were found to be more attentive, attended more meetings and more critical of board performance. Zarinah also said studies have shown that companies with a critical mass of women leaders were likely to be well-governed. She added the blueprint also proposed the establishment of a directors' registry as an important enabler to provide a pool of qualified candidates, including women, for directorship of boards. "I am indeed encouraged by the efforts that have gone into creating this registry and I look forward to seeing it fulfil its purpose of matching the needs of boards with candidates who meet the profiles they require. "In addition, two public consultations are currently being undertaken to assess whether the chairman should be an independent director and whether we should mandate poll voting for all resolutions at general meetings," she added. -- BERNAMA