"She says, he says": women's and men's views of the composition of boards

Abstract

While women have continued to increase their representation in the paid workforce, their representation on corporate boards in Australia remains very low. In this paper, the views of men and women board members of publicly-listed companies in Australia concerning the adequacy of the composition of boards and the factors contributing to women's low representation are explored and contrasted. It seems that these "successful" men and women have significantly different views on the benefits of homogeneity or diversity of board membership. While the men believe the current composition is generally adequate, the women are concerned about the lack of diversity of board membership. These findings are considered in the context of existing work on masculinity and identity politics that suggest that those who are part of the hegemonic group do not question the structures that sustain that hegemony.