INTERNATIONAL Women's Day came and went last month. The gender diversity gap in Singapore's corporate boardrooms is narrowing, albeit slowly, as compared with neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and India who have leapfrogged over us after setting targets and quotas for female board directors.

The latest figures from the Diversity Action Committee (DAC) showed that the percentage of women on boards of SGX-listed companies has gone from 8.3 per cent in 2013 to 8.8 per cent in 2014 and 9.5 per cent in 2015. In a year where the total number of directorships declined, 30 women were appointed in 2015 and 38 per cent of them were debutante directors, compared with 32 per cent for men.

These improving numbers may be attributed to various initiatives launched over the last two years, including: