A new index shows that the top Irish companies continue to make progress on gender representation in the boardroom.
The latest annual Board Index by Spencer Stuart Ireland reveals that women now make up 41% of all board members in the ISEQ 20, an 11% increase on last year's figure - and a 45% jump since 2020.
The figure also tracks well internationally. Similar reports on board composition in Finland and Denmark show that women make up 38% of board members, but the UK and Norway are slightly ahead, at 43% and 46% respectively.
Spencer Stuart Ireland also said that women continue to take on more senior board positions, with this year's index showing that 75% of the ISEQ 20 now have at least one woman in the top four leadership roles, with 24% of these senior roles now held by women.
The start date for the year under review is May 1, 2023 and the cut-off date is April 30, 2024.
The composition of the ISEQ 20 has changed in the period under review. Flutter Entertainment delisted from the ISEQ 20 in January after its decision to move its listing to the New York Stock Exchange in June, while Kenmare Resources and FD Technologies are now part of the official ISEQ 20.
In wider diversity efforts, today's report also shows that 31% of directors on the boards surveyed are non-Irish nationals, a slight decrease on last year, due to the changed composition of the ISEQ 20.
However, consistent with last year's report, 50% of new board appointments this year were international, which shows the ongoing commitment to diverse board representation.
The changing composition of the ISEQ 20, as well as the removal of executive chairs from a number of boards has seen a fall in the average remuneration of board chairs.
But remuneration packages have overall increased in the past year, with the average payout for non-executive directors in the ISEQ 20 increasing by 11.6%, while senior independent director roles also saw payments increase by an average of 11.7%.
Managing Partner of Spencer Stuart Ireland Ruth Curran said the latest Board Index is a positive indicator of progress towards more balanced gender representation in the country's boardrooms.
"This year’s report shows another marked increase in the number of women on ISEQ 20 boards, and crucially, represents a fifth consecutive year of progress in this regard," she said.
"While gender representation across all board members is trending positively, there is still room for improvement at senior board level - namely among CEOs, CFOs, Chairs and Senior Independent Directors," she added.
