2012 Australian Census of Women in Leadership

A research book commissioned by the Australian Government Equal Opportunity Agency. This work reports the results of the 2012 Australian Census of Women in Leadership. The survey includes an analysis of the ASX 500 companies boards and executives gender diversity; gender diversity in public sector boards; and comparison with international initiatives in gender diversity in leadership positions. The work provides a detailed analysis of a large data base, and analytical commentary of the results. There is an assessment of remaining obstacles to achieving greater diversity, and analysis of what is required to create a better pipeline for the development of women for leadership

Impact of gender diversity on social and environmental performance evidence from Malaysia

Purpose - This study is guided by the upper echelon theory and argues that the role of females on boards of directors may differ between cultures. In a culture where the community has a significant humane orientation, female directors may pay much more attention to the social issues of corporate sustainability rather than environmental issues. Therefore, this study differentiates between the social and environmental performances of companies to examine whether the presence of females on the boards of directors of Malaysian firms could affect social and environmental performances differently. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses a sample of firms listed in Bursa Malaysia and develops two disclosure indices to measure social and environmental performances. Three proxies of female directors are used in the empirical models. The ordinary Least Square is used to test the hypothesis. Findings - The empirical results suggest a positive association between social performance and the presence of female directors on the board of directors of Malaysian firms. However, no association was found between environmental performance and the presence of female directors on those boards. These results confirm the prediction of this study that the female directors of Malaysian firms pay more attention to social issues than to environmental ones. Originality/value - This is the first study to examine the effects of the presence of female directors on Malaysian firms’ boards of directors on social and environmental performance. It also contributes to the upper echelon theory by illuminating the importance of gender diversity in influencing the social and environmental behaviors of corporate leaders. The results provide the important implication that the association between a firm’s social and environmental performance and gender diversity depends on the culture within which the company operates

Gender and Pay Equity in a Global Knowledge Organisation

The gender pay gap, the difference in earnings of men and women, has remainedremarkably resilient over the past two decades in Australia and a number of othercountries, despite a range of legislative and policy initiatives aimed at narrowing thisdifference. Drawing upon industry-wide data and an organisational case, this analysisof professional business services examines the nature of pay equity within and beyondorganisational boundaries. We conclude that ‘success’ in gender and pay equity termshas been constrained by minimum government compliance requirements and limitedattention to the role labour markets play in contributing to gendered patterns of pay

Women in the boardroom and fraud: Evidence from Australia

We examine the relationship between women’s representation on corporate boards and fraud. Drawing on a discussion of existing studies, we hypothesize that increasing women’s representation on boards can help mitigate fraud. We provide validation to our conjecture through an empirical analysis of 128 publicly listed companies in Australia. We show that the increase in women’s representation on company boards is associated with a decreased probability of fraud. We demonstrate the consistency of this result across different robustness checks. We believe that our findings could be of interest to policy makers interested in enhancing board governance and monitoring

Gendered Observations and Experiences in Executive Women's Work

This article explores gendered observations and experiences of executive women on the basis of common world views or lenses through which gender differences are interpreted and understood. Three types of lenses are identified from both the literature and the data: monocultural, statistical and structural. The discussion explores the relationships and ties between each lens noting the overlapping characteristics. A qualitative study is used to index the various themes and the coping strategies employed by executive women in Australia based on specific work experiences in leadership and gender relations. The study adds to existing gender theory by highlighting how gendered lenses can be used to explore gender hierarchies and inequality regimes which lie at the centre of executive women's work