Carol Bowie is Head of Americas Research at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). This post is based on a recent publication authored by ISS U.S. Research analyst Rob Yates.
Women corporate directors globally are showing greater proportional gains on occupying key board committees than on boards overall, according to a new analysis by leading governance and ESG data and analytics provider Institutional Shareholder Services.
Between Jan. 1, 2014, and Jan. 1, 2016, the proportion of women directorships at companies across major markets and indices in Europe, the U.S., Australia, and Canada grew by 5.5 percentage points compared with 6.9 points for those on audit committees. Growth evidenced in the proportion of women on audit committees during that period included double digit gains at companies in Italy and France, 7.2 percentage points at U.K. companies, and 6 percentage points at Swiss companies. Meanwhile, the proportion of women on other key committees, including those addressing remuneration and nomination, similarly outpaced gains at the overall board levels, albeit less prominently, at 6.5 and 5.9 points, respectively.