On board

Email Newsletter of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Nominations Service
December 2006

Welcome to the December edition of On Board. Click here for a PDF (108.8kB) version.

In this edition we have news about:

• The December 2005 whole-of-government stocktake of statutory bodies
• Women and Private Sector Governance
• New appointments of women to State Sector bodies.
• Updating CVs
• The Team

New results - the December 2005 stocktake of statutory bodies

The results of the second stocktake (December 2005), show that the percentage of women on statutory bodies is the same as December 2004 (41 percent).  Some agencies have improved while others have fallen back.

Whole of Government	December 2004	December 2005
Total bodies	396	410
Total Ministerial appointees	2605	2683
Women Ministerial appointees	1063	1098
Percentage of women	41%	41%

As to be expected, sectors with a traditionally high proportion of women’s involvement such as the Ministries of Social Development, Health, and the Department of Internal Affairs are again the star performers.

• The Ministry of Social Development administers nine bodies with 33 members, of whom 20 (61%) are women
  

• The Ministry of Health administers 71 bodies with 655 members, of whom 334 (51%) are women
  

• The Department of Internal Affairs administers 39 bodies with 280 members, of whom 140 (50%) are women.
  

Best improvers were:

• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - five percent improvement administers 12 bodies with 67 members, of whom 20 (30%) are women
  

• National Library of New Zealand - five percent improvement administers two bodies with ten members, of whom five (50%) are women
  

• The Treasury - four percent improvement administers eight bodies with 45 members, of whom 15 (33%) are women.

Women and private sector governance

Earlier in the year the New Zealand Census of Women’s Participation 2006 showed that women hold 7.13 percent of board directorships of the companies listed on the NZX Top 100.   

A few months ago, we launched a project to explore what, if anything, could be done to help increase the number of women on boards in the private sector.  Using a
semi-structured interview process we talked with 33 of New Zealand’s private sector chairs, directors, business leaders, and executive recruiters.  We also conducted an email survey with a range of our database women.

Major themes

The major themes that emerged were that:

• a significant number of New Zealand corporate leaders are actively promoting the appointment of suitably qualified women on to boards as being ‘good for business’
• there is a growing body of international research supporting this view
• suitably qualified women with the desirable commercial track records are hard to find
• three private sector database proposals are being developed to identify suitably qualified women in order to provide a greater selection pool for governance appointments in the private sector
• a significant number of interviewees said that our Nominations Service database should be available to private sector search processes to assist in identifying women.

 

The practical outcomes

The Nominations Service has responded by establishing processes for:

• notifying corporate and professional women in the database pool of private sector board opportunities  
• linking boards and recruiters with suitably qualified women.

What happens next?

Aspiring Directors

When the developers are ready to launch, which we expect to be early in the New Year, we will email you with information about how, when and where to sign up.

When the sites are ready, we will email you with:

• the date they go live
• their web address and how to contact them
• what levels of experience, skills and competencies are required
• the information the developers need from women who intend to register.

If a private sector directorship is what you want, you will be able to directly connect to the board recruitment market via these databases.

Private Sector Board Vacancies

When we are advised of board vacancies by a recruiter, company or board, we will email women on the database who have the background and competencies being sought.  As with other recruitment processes, it will then be over to the individual to apply directly to the company or board concerned.

New appointments of women to State Sector bodies

Congratulations to those who have recently been appointed to statutory bodies.  They include:

Radio New Zealand Board Christine Grice Engineering Associates Board Wendy Steadman Chartered Professional Engineers Council Sharyn Westlake Housing New Zealand Board Sandra Lee National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee Edna McAtamney Archives Council Theresa Graham Rachel Lilburn Ani Pahuru-Huriwai Antarctica New Zealand Board Jo Breese Janice Molloy Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand Robyn Northey Taranaki District Health Board Jan Dunlop Southland District Health Board Karen Goffe West Coast District Health Board Susan Wallace Nursing Council of New Zealand Kathrine Townshend Roxanne McKerras Christine Payne

Medical Laboratory Science Board Sue Carnoutsos Shirley Gainsford Laurette Manley Esther Cowley Kura Denness Wendi Wicks Dietitians Board Barbara Cormack Midwifery Council Estelle Mulligan Northland Lottery Distribution Committee Heather Ayrton Maxine Shortland Bay of Plenty/Gisborne Lottery Distribution Committee Bev Adlam  Taranaki Lottery Distribution Committee Susan Hughes Andrea Needham Aoraki Polytechnic Council Carole Brand The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Council Sharryn Waters Wellington Institute of Technology Council Anne Hare Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal Nicola Wills

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

Updating CVs

It is always helpful to us (and most especially to you) if you keep your CV up-to-date.
It is also very helpful if you can include your date-of-birth as if you are short-listed, the Cabinet paper will require information about your age.  Just email us any changes or additions. If in doubt, give Joan or Sean a call.

We are always happy to meet and talk with you about your CV and your potential for nomination.   

If you are going to be in Wellington and would like to do that, then just give Joan a call on (04) 916 5849 to set up a meeting.

And finally, we wish you a very happy Christmas, and a happy and peaceful New Year.

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