Percentage of board seats held by women keeps rising: CSA review

The percentage of board seats held by women has increased to 15%, the CSA says, with larger companies showing greater representation.

In its fourth review since implementing disclosure requirements regarding the representation of women on boards and in executive officer positions, CSA examined 648 issuers that had year-ends between Dec. 31, 2017 and March 31, 2018. The review covered the seven CSA provinces: Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

The percentage increased from 14% last year and 11% in its first review.

Broken down by size of issuer for 2018, as measured by market capitalization, the regulator found the following.

• For the 417 issuers with a market capitalization of less than $1 billion, 11% of board seats were held by women.
• For the 85 issuers with a market capitalization of between $1 billion and $2 billion, 19% of board seats were held by women.
• For the 99 issuers with a market capitalization of between $2 billion and $10 billion, 21% of board seats were held by women.
• For the 47 issuers with a market capitalization of greater than $10 billion, 25% of board seats were held by women.

Overall, CSA says 21% of board seats for the 231 issuers with a market capitalization of greater than $1 billion were filled by women in 2018, up from 16% in 2015.

Looking at all issuers, the regulator found that nearly three in 10 board seats were awarded to women when they became available, and the number of issuers with at least one woman on their board increased to 66% in 2018 from 49% in 2015. Over the same period, the number of issuers with at least one women in executive officer positions increased from 60% to 66%. 

Further, 42% of issuers now have policies on identifying and nominating women directors, which represents “an almost three-fold increase since 2015,” CSA said in a release. Sixteen percent of issuers have targets for the representation of women on their boards, compared to 7% in 2015, while only 4% have targets for the representation of women in executive officer positions.

For the first time, CSA also reviewed how many issuers had a female CEO (4%) and/or CFO (14%).

The regulator wants investors to have all the information they need when making investment and voting decisions, said Louis Morisset, CSA chair, and president and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers, in the release. 

Read the full report.

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