Switching up pace to narrow Singapore boards' gender divide

Singapore

SINGAPORE's top 100 listed companies appear to be steadily weaning themselves from the 'all-boys club' in the boardrooms. In 2013, half of them had zero women while as at end-2018, just-men boards shrank to 25 per cent.

Not bad, considering Singapore, unlike many of its European counterparts, has not put in place legal mandates to narrow the corporate gender divide in its boards.

For listed companies across the board though, there remains more work to do with almost one out of two boards (48 per cent) being homogeneously male, although there has been some slow progress over the years.

The statistics as at end-December 2018 were contained in the latest report by Singapore's Diversity Action Committee (DAC) - a panel that was set up four years ago by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to press companies to add women in their boards, with a specific focus on the top 100 listed companies here.

The DAC has just been renamed the Council for Board Diversity (CBD) with a wider mandate to not only cover boards of listed companies here but also organisations in the public and people sectors.

The setting up of the council sends a strong signal that Singapore wants to be more impactful in its efforts to champion equal opportunity in boards as it's a more long-term and sustainable platform compared to a committee which is relatively short-term, said Singapore's President, Halimah Yacob, who is also the CBD's patron, after the council's first engagement session at the Istana on Wednesday.

The DAC has done some good work. Last year, women filled up 15.2 per cent of board seats in the top 100 companies, double that of 7.5 per cent in 2013 before the committee was set up and versus 8.6 per cent in 2014, the year of its inception. For overall listed companies, that grew to 11.3 per cent last year from 8.3 per cent five years ago.

Some 24 per cent of board hires last year involved women - a record for the big companies while it remained flat at 13 per cent across the board from a year ago.

Companies that switched status from being all-male boards by offering a spot each to women include Ascendas India Trust, CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT), Far East Hospitality Trust and Genting Singapore. Venture Corp walked the extra mile and opened its tightly-latched boardroom door to welcome two women last year.

The latest data on the narrowing gender divide in the boards of Singapore's top 100 firms was an encouraging sign that the DAC's target of hitting 20 per cent by end-2020 among this particular batch was achievable, according to Singapore Exchange chief executive Loh Boon Chye who, together with chairman of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre Mildred Tan, is co-chairing the council.

More importantly, he said, companies can also take a leaf and learn from statutory boards and non-profit organisations which have more women on board - around 23 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively.

"There are areas to learn from and collectively raise their (women) representation," he said.

Singapore's makeup of boards however ought to be be quicker. It is lower than its neighbour, Malaysia, and has a great deal to catch up with developed markets such as the US (24 per cent) as well as European countries like France (it holds the top spot at 42.5 per cent), Norway (42.1 per cent) and Germany (25.3 per cent) that have legal quotas for boards to pick women.

There is overwhelming evidence to back up the merits of a healthier gender mix in boardrooms.

"It's a business imperative," said Mrs Tan, adding: "It results in better performance and better decisions".

What has been the experience of women on some boards, so far? In the beginning, it was easy to be conscious that one is the only woman in a male-dominated board, admits Kuan Li Li, who was appointed CRCT independent director in January last year.

"But not anymore. The board has tried very hard to make me feel at home. Everyone is respectful and polite and there is very little 'manterruption'. A lot depends on the personality of the chair (person) and chief executive," she told The Business Times.

Ms Kuan has deep knowledge of the finance industry from her previous positions at Barclays Bank - she was the first female country head in Asia - and prior to that had served with two other banks here, DBS and HSBC.

CRCT has a portfolio of 11 malls in China. In recent years, she says the malls have evolved into being more experiential and the tenant mix has been refreshed to include more food & beverage options to reflect this.

"Apart from contributing based on my financial experience, this whole concept (shift into experiential retail) was also quite natural for me. Being a woman, I have a natural gravitation towards shopping centres," she added.

Dan Luo, a marketing and sales veteran with experience across South-east Asia and China - she has held key positions in Lego and Heinz - joined the board of Yeo Hiap Seng as independent director two years ago, becoming the beverage company's first and only female director.

Was she daunted? "I think all new directors probably feel a bit daunted on the first board meeting. But I do not think this is any different for a male or female director. Each one of us has different background and experiences and contribute from different angles," she says, adding that as a woman, she tends to be more thorough, be it in reviewing board materials or in her questions.

The newly set up 20-member CBD's mandate is to amp up awareness on the importance of board diversity, engage with stakeholders and partners to develop the pipeline of board-ready women, and work with the government on policies and programmes that impact women on boards.

This may be a good time as any to further push the agenda for women to gain their rightful spots in boards. "The conversation on board diversity is encouraging. Companies know that it is a visible yardstick that's good for business," said Mr Loh.

Mrs Tan added: "Basically, if we can get more people to work with us, we can push the numbers (higher). The whole thing is to figure out where is the pipeline of board-ready women, how we can reach them and introduce them to the boards, be it in public, private or people sectors."

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