Ontario wants at least 40 per cent women on provincial boards by 2019

JANE TABER  The Globe and Mail

The Ontario government is setting a gender diversity target that would see at least 40 per cent women appointed to every provincial board and agency by 2019 as a way of leading by example.

Kathleen Wynne’s government is responding to recommendations in a major report by Catalyst, a non-profit organization advocating the advancement of women in business and government. The government has accepted all 11 of them.

“Canada continues to lag behind other developed nations in terms of gender balance on corporate boards,” the report says. “Although more women than men graduate annually from Canada’s universities and colleges, Canadian women continue to be underrepresented on boards and in senior management.”

As of 2015, for example, 51 per cent of businesses listed on the TSX had no women on their boards, according to background documents released along with the report. Women make up half of Ontario’s work force.

The Catalyst report, Gender Diversity on Boards in Canada, was released Tuesday morning at an event at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Ms. Wynne and Finance Minister Charles Sousa were in attendance.

In its report, Catalyst says the most “efficient way” to improve female representation is to establish targets.

The Ontario government is creating a steering committee to improve female representation on boards and in senior executive positions.‎ Mr. Sousa and Tracy MacCharles, the minister responsible for women’s issues, will be co-chairs of the committee.

The report says that setting the tone from the top by involving the Ontario government is an important piece in “advancing the establishment of targets for women’s representation on boards … and further engaging with the business community to drive understanding of the need for change.”

Women on boards: How Canadian industries stack up

In 2014, Janet McFarland and Murat Yukselir took a detailed look at which sectors come closest to gender parity.

The report recommends that boards with one female director boost that to 30-per-cent female representation by the end of 2017; there should be written policies on how to increase representation; and once businesses have accepted the targets, they should achieve their goals within three to five years.

In addition, boards should review their recruitment policies so that lists of potential candidates are at least 50-per-cent female – and at least half of those interviewed for those positions should be women, including those from diverse communities.

Pay-equity issues should also be addressed, according to the report, as women often enter companies earning less than men.

‎ “For too long, many Canadian companies have relied on tokenism, with one or two women directors seen as a success,” the report says. “We can do much better than this.”