The push for more female company directors must expand into a broader discussion about the diversity of the boards of the country's biggest corporations.
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That is the view of Woolworths and AMP non-executive director Holly Kramer, who says there has been reasonable progress in getting more women on large company boards, despite the need for further action.
Speaking last week, Ms Kramer said there had been a lot of momentum for change in the gender make-up of boards, noting that "women made up 8 per cent of board seats five or six years ago." Latest figures from the Australian Institute of Company Directors show this proportion has risen to 25 per cent for the ASX 200.
"I would say that the movement in gender has been reasonably good, I know there's a lot of debate, it's not gone far enough, but I think it's relatively encouraging," she said as part of a panel discussion.
"That issue, though, needs to move from gender to a broader topic of diversity."
Ms Kramer made the comments in a discussion about governance and social issues likely to confront directors in years ahead, at an event to mark 10 years since the launch of governance advisory firm Regnan.
Previous research from Regnan, which advises big investors, has argued the lack of women on boards, while important, is a reflection of the relatively narrow group of people who work as directors. Almost half of Australian board directors were from financial services, accounting or legal backgrounds, the paper said.
Mental health highlighted
Yet Ms Kramer and other directors speaking alongside her last week said boards need to deal with a growing array of complicated social - as well as financial - issues.
For example, Transurban and Mirvac director Sam Mostyn said boards may need to think more about the mental health of staff, which could be a significant risk for companies if handled poorly.
Ms Mostyn also gave the example of a superannuation fund investor she said was pushing boards to spell out how they would create "decent work" for Australians, amid concerns about wage inequality.
"It was the start of a really difficult, but ultimately really important conversation," Ms Mostyn said.
Also speaking at the event were Vodafone Hutchison non-executive director Amanda Harkness and chief executive of Commonwealth Super Corporation Peter Carrigy-Ryan.
