Johannesburg - A database of qualified women able to serve on boards of directors could be the solution to the dearth of women directors in South Africa.
Professor Michael Katz, chairman of legal firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs and a member of the King Commission on Corporate Governance, made this proposal at a conference for women directors at the JSE on Monday.
"There is no doubt that boards that do well reflect variety in gender, race and expertise," Katz declared.
"When a company is looking for directors, it can go to a database such as this, and the excuse that no women are available to serve on the board will no longer be valid."
The half-day conference highlighted the roles of women directors and their numbers.
Basetsana Kumalo, the president of the Businesswomen's Association, discussed the results of the association's 2009 census.
The census indicated that only 14.6% of South African directorships are held by women - and a third of South African companies have no women directors.
According to Irene Natividad, president of the International Council of Women and co-chair of Corporate Women Directors International, the solution could lie in having the number of women on boards specified by legislation and quotas.
She cited the example of Norway. In 2003 that country passed legislation that determined that at least 40% off all company board members should be women. Companies that did not comply within two years were dissolved.
Norway also has a database of women that can serve on boards of directors. As a result, 44% of the country's directors are now women.
According to Wendy Lucas-Bull, who serves on various boards, a system such as this may be necessary for South Africa.
"The more clearly the target is set, and the better the sanctions are defined, the easier it will be to achieve the target," she declares.
Lucas-Bull reckons organisations such as financial services regulators, the Department of Trade & Industry and the JSE can all be important players in instituting such measures.
But Wiphold chief executive Louisa Majola says there could be disadvantages attached to legislation that prescribes the numbers of women directors by percentage.
"The prescription of preferential procurement (for black economic empowerment) has already resulted in companies sometimes adopting a 'hire-somebody-black' approach just to get contracts," she reasoned.
"It's important for companies to make a real effort to pursue a policy of having women representatives, rather than being forced to do so. More than quotas must be involved."
- Sake24.com
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