ACSI slams Australia’s biggest companies for poor gender diversity

ACSI CEO Louise Davidson. Source: Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute

Don’t underestimate the power of Louise Davidson as CEO of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).

She’s done with the “old excuses” that companies can’t find any women for board positions, and is calling for 97 companies to do better on appointing women to boards.

These are calls that are set to be heard loud and clear across corporate Australia, given the consequences for male board directors should they fail to address ACSI’s concerns.

The ACSI provides voting recommendations to 26 industry superannuation funds, with more than $1 trillion in assets under management. On Wednesday, they put all ASX 300 companies on notice to ensure at least 30% of their boards are occupied by women.

Their policy could see ACSI issuing recommendations “against” male director re-elections, where companies fail to meet the minimum of women holding 30% of board seats.

“The old excuse was that there weren’t enough women with ‘appropriate’ qualifications, but Australian boards have dispelled that argument — so far this year, 45% of board appointments have been women,” said Davidson on issuing the new policy.

Currently, 97 such boards don’t meet such criteria, including high-profile and consumer-facing companies like Harvey Norman, Kogan.com and JB Hi-Fi. Also on the list is one of the country’s largest media giants, Seven West Media Ltd, as well as insurer IAG Group.

Some boards have significant work to do, with a dozen companies across the ASX 300 having no female board directors at all. Most of these are in mining and resources.

By 2025, ACSI wants to see at least 40% of company boards occupied by women. Currently, such boards are averaging 34% women, a positive result given where they were just a few years ago. ACSI launched their drive for women to occupy at least 30% of ASX 200 board seats a decade ago, with women now making up 36% of all such positions on the 200 — up from just 19.7% in 2015. This new voting recommendation policy takes effect from July 2023, and sees ACSI extend the boards they cover to the ASX 201-300.

Davidson says a shift to greater board diversity and the 34%female figure already achieved across the ASX 300 is a positive for investors, given it means boards are accessing a larger talent pool to provide more diverse skills and backgrounds.

However, she adds that the averages mask a lack of progress in many companies — including the 97 companies that fail to meet the 30% mark.

So why are they doing this? ACSI says it supports the efforts of ASX-listed companies to build and maintain diverse boards, and believes that boards should be sourced from the broadest range of director talent possible — while boards should be made up of individuals who can work effectively together. It says boards must also bring a diversity of thought to decision-making and to build a “viable, profitable and efficient company over the long term”.

While a failure to meet the 30% threshold does not guarantee that ACSI will issue recommendations during the 2023 AGM season for members to vote against existing male directors, it’s a possibility that should have companies taking notice.

Davidson says that recommendations will be applied on a “case-by-case basis” and combined with direct company engagement.

It’s clear that ACSI is looking to see commitments from companies to address any lack of women on their boards — and to quit with the ‘can’t find any women’ excuses.

“While around 100 companies could currently face ‘against’ recommendation, we believe that, following engagement, the number will be much smaller,” Davidson said.

“We hope that by working with companies to drive change we will see further progress and commitments. However, recommendations will be made against companies which make no progress at all.”

Davidson has been CEO of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors since April 2025. She is also currently the chair of the Mother’s Day Classic Foundation and a director at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. In 2015, she was named Victoria’s Local Hero in the Australian of the Year Awards for her work as co-founder of the Mother’s Day Classic Walk/Run for Breast Cancer Research — the national event has raised more than $41.5 million for breast cancer research since being established in 1998.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.

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