Welcome to On Board

For a PDF version of the August 2007 On Board, click HERE.

In this edition:

• Whole-of-Government Gender Stocktake of Boards and Committees - 2006
• Alert - Local Government nominations close on Friday, 24 August 2007
• New Appointments!
  
• The Business Case for Appointing More Women to Boards
• World Class New Zealand Awards – No Women Yet
• Update your CV
  
• The Team
  

Whole-of Government Gender Stocktake of Boards and Committees

As you know, as well as nominating women to boards, we monitor progress towards the goal of gender balance on government boards and committees.

We have just completed the latest stocktake which shows that in the last year there has been a small gain - a one percentage point improvement over the last year.

Whole of Government	December 2005	December 2006
Total boards and committees	411	412
Total Ministerial appointees	2687	2675
Women Ministerial appointees	1098	1131
Percentage of women	41%	42%

The detailed results, committee by committee, and board by board, have been circulated to all Ministers, Chief Executives and departments so that they can benchmark their progress (or not) toward the goal of 50 percent by 2010.

Local Body and District Health Board nominations close on the 24 August 2007

A reminder that time is almost up if you are considering standing for election this year. It would be wonderful to see an increase in the number of women putting their hats in the ring.

Nominations close at noon on Friday the 24 August.
 
If more women are to be elected, then more of us need to become active both by supporting competent women who are standing for election, and by voting. We can’t complain about the lack of women in leadership roles unless we get involved as candidates, supporters and voters.

Voting begins on the 21 September and closes on 13 October 2007.

New Appointments of Women to State Sector Bodies

Congratulations to the following women recently appointed to statutory bodies.
They include:

New Zealand Racing Board Liz Dawson Psychologists Board Dr Jacqueline Horn Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board Ruth Spelman Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal Sandra Moran appointed as deputy chair New Zealand Horticultural Export Authority Dr Sandra Martin Arts Board of Creative New Zealand Penny Eames Physiotherapy Board Lesley Thornley Lynda McCutcheon New Zealand Lotteries Commission Laura Humphreys Multi-Region Ethics Committee Dr Helen Moriarty Whanganui Community Foundation Cherryl Smith Trust Waikato Judith Muru Coroners Katharine Greig Carla na Nagara Sue Johnson

Community Trust of Southland Joan Kiernan Otago Community Trust Louise Rosson Louise Croot Eastern and Central Community Trust Beverley Fullerton-Smith Shona Jones Community Trust of Canterbury Sally Thompson Bay of Plenty Community Trust Linda Hudson New Zealand/France Friendship Fund Jenny Bornholdt New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Board Maureen Waaka Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology Deborah Rowe Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd Jo Brosnahan appointed as chair Institute of Environmental Science & Research Ltd Board Dr Judith Johnston Agresearch Ltd Board Dr Jane Adams Whanganui District Health Board Kate Joblin appointed as chair National Pacific Radio Trust Board Jeannie Pera

A list which includes reappointments as well as new appointments is up on our website in the ‘What’s New?’ section.

The Business Case for Appointing More Women to Boards

‘Just as we strive for diversity in our workforce, we should strive for diversity of thought and experience on our boards. Monolithic backgrounds are destined to foster monolithic thinking.’
William Donaldson, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

There is an increasing body of research showing that diversity on boards leads to improved company performance.

This link http://www.europeanpwn.net/files/leveraging_diversity_1.pdf takes you to an article by Carol Stephenson, Dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada, which draws together much of the latest research in a succinct and easily readable form.
Very useful for circulating to all the board members and shareholders you know!

World Class New Zealand Awards – No Women Yet

The World Class New Zealand Awards were established by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) in 2003, to recognise successful ‘world class’ New Zealanders who give their time, knowledge and skills to help New Zealand companies and industries succeed internationally.

Since then nine high achieving Kiwis have been honoured for their individual achievements and for their global impact on New Zealand’s reputation and economy - and none of them have been women.

Why?  Well so far, no women have been nominated. So this is an invitation to redress the balance. The awards are administered by an organisation called Kea – New Zealand’s Global Talent Community which has asked us to ‘spread the word’ so that the pool can be enlarged and enhanced with women nominees.

First have a look at website www.keanewzealand.com and past winners so that you can get a feel for the achievement levels and calibre of people they are looking for. For example, past winners include John Hood, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Geoff Ross, CEO of 42 Below.

Nominating is very straightforward. Go to this link http://www.keanewzealand.com/wcnz/nominate/index.html and fill out the very simple form.
But note: Nominations don’t open until next Monday - 20 August.

So please consider nominating a high profile woman for consideration in this years awards round.

If you have any questions, then email them to worldclass@keanewzealand.com

Updating CVs

And please remember to keep your CV up-dated with us – just email us with any additions or amendments.

We are always happy talk with you either by phone or in person about your CV and your potential for nomination. If you are going to be in Wellington and would like to meet, then give Joan a call on (04) 916 5849 to set it up.

The Team

Joan Isaac
Nominations Manager
(04) 916 5849, email isaac@mwa.govt.nz

Sean Molloy
Nominations Advisor
(04) 916 5814, email molloy@mwa.govt.nz

Joy Aberdein
Steve Hickey
Executive Assistants
(04) 916 5820, email noms@mwa.govt.nz

If you have any queries about the information in this newsletter, or the Nominations Service in general, please contact Joan or Sean.

If you do not wish to receive On board in future please email molloy@mwa.govt.nz
with ‘No thanks’ in the subject line and we will take you off our mailing list.

Ministry of Women's Affairs
PO Box 10049
48 Mulgrave Street
Thorndon
Wellington
04 9157112
04 9161604
mwa@mwa.govt.nz
www.mwa.govt.nz