Gender Equity Insights 2020: Delivering the Business Outcomes

Our 2020 Gender Equity Insights report, the fifth report in this series, shows that more women at the top proves better for business:

• Profitability, performance and productivity increase under female leadership
• Female top-tier managers add 6.6 per cent to market value of ASX companies
• Female leadership will help businesses thrive in a post-COVID world

Key findings:

• An increase of 10 percentage points or more in female representation on the Boards of Australian
  ASX-listed companies led to a 4.9 per cent increase in the company market value, worth the
  equivalent of AUD$78.5 million for the average company;
• An increase of 10 percentage points or more in female representation on Boards led to a 6.0 per
  cent increase in the likelihood of outperforming their peers on three of more metrics;
• The appointment of a female CEO led to a 12.9 per cent increase in the likelihood of outperforming
  the sector on three or more metrics;
• An increase of 10 percentage points or more in the share of female key management personnel
  led to a 5.8 per cent increase in the likelihood of outperforming their sector on three or more
  metrics;
• Women are least likely to be the Chair of the Board, with only 14.1 per cent of women being Board Chairs;
• Women make up only 17.1 per cent of company CEOs;
• 29.8 per cent of companies have no female representation on their Board and a similar proportion of companies have no women in their key management teams;
• Two-thirds of firms in the construction sector have zero female representation on their Boards.