Women hold 9.5% of board seats in BSE 200 cos: Catalyst

Women hold just 9.5 per cent of board seats in BSE 200 companies, a report has found.
However, the percentage is better than that of a few major countries like Japan and Portugal.
According to a study released by research firm Catalyst today, women's share of board seats in India is only 9.5 per cent for BSE 200 companies.
The presentation of women on boards seats in India is very low despite new Companies Act requires every listed company to appoint at least one woman to their board.
The study titled '2014 Catalyst Census: Women Board Directors' has examined the gender diversity on boards at listed companies in 20 countries including the US, Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific (Australia, Hong Kong, India and Japan).

The percentage of women on board in public listed companies is topped by Norway at 35.5 per cent, while Japan had the lowest (only 3.1 per cent) share of female board members among the countries studied.

In the UK, women hold 22.8 per cent of board seats in FTSE 100 index companies, in the US women hold 19.2 per cent of S&P 500 company board seats and in Australia they hold 19.2 per cent of S&P ASX 200 index.
In Portugal women hold 7.9 per cent of board seats, while in case of Canada, women's presentation is 20.8 per cent on S&P/TSX 60 board seats.

"We have evidence and optimism that closing the gender gap on corporate boards is possible, yet the current numbers are simply not good enough," says Catalyst President and CEO Deborah Gillis.
"Companies that are not making diversity on boards a priority should be embarrassed. Smart leaders know that they can either lead the movement toward making profound and lasting impact, or be left behind," he added.
Increasing the percentage of women on a board of directors has been linked to better financial earnings, more innovation and higher group performances.