Forty years after the Royal Commission on the Status of Women took steps to ensure that women had equal opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian society, gender equality remains elusive in Canada’s boardrooms.

Findings from the 2009 Catalyst Census: Financial Post 500 Women Board Directors released Wednesday at a Women of Influence luncheon in Toronto, reveal that women hold 14% of director positions in the FP500, an increase of only one percentage point in two years. Moreover, the study showed that nearly 45% of public companies have no women board directors at all.

“Corporate Canada must recognize that, competitively, they are playing with ‘half a deck’ when they ignore the marketplace and workforce and overlook appointing women to board service,” said Deborah Gillis, Catalyst’s vice president, North America.

“In 2010, the argument that companies can’t find women to sit on boards simply doesn’t work. Catalyst research shows that looking beyond company heads — 21 women currently lead FP500 companies — to the broader corporate officer pool expands by more than 30 times the number of qualified women available for board service.”

Among the study’s key findings:

• Women held just 10.3% of board seats in Canadian public companies compared to 15.2% of Fortune 500 companies, most of which are public.

• Private companies saw the biggest boost, where the percentage of women board directors increased four percentage points (12% in 2007 to 16% in 2009).

• The Arts, Entertainment and Recreation industry led in representation of women board directors with 36.4%, while the Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction industry had the lowest at 6.7%. The Finance and insurance industry was in the middle of the pack, with women holding 17.4% of board seats.

Gillis pointed to the need for Canadian companies to “nab the best women now” — or risk losing them to proactive, multi-national companies already seeking to add qualified women to their boards. “Canadian companies and their recruiters need to act quickly and broaden the criteria for board roles,” said Gillis.

For the study, Catalyst gathered data from public sources, including annual reports, annual information forms, proxy statements, and government databases. To ensure the accuracy of the data, Catalyst provided companies with timely opportunities to confirm the accuracy of their data. In 2009, 478 of the 500 companies (95.6%) verified their data.

Catalyst is a nonprofit membership organization working globally with businesses and the professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business.

IE