Hong Kong-listed firms could take 140 years to reach gender parity on boards at current rate, study finds

At current organic growth trajectory, Hong Kong-listed companies will reach gender parity ‘in the year 2161’

Study comes as city works on quotas for women on boards of all listed companies

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Hong Kong investors tend to let companies get away with a lot of things when it comes to diversity, according to Jane Moir of the Asian Corporate Governance Association. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 1:00pm, 18 Nov 2021Updated: 8:56pm, 18 Nov 2021

It could take 140 years for Hong Kong’s top listed companies to reach gender parity as far as their boards of directors were concerned, according to a study.

The study, by investor-backed corporate governance body and non-profit Asian Corporate Governance Association, found that last year women constituted only 12.7 per cent of the boards of directors of the top 100 companies by market value tracked by MSCI. Their numbers had risen from 10.3 per cent in 2012 and 5 per cent in 1999, but progress was slow.

“If board diversity continues on its current organic growth trajectory – 2.4 per cent every nine years – we will reach gender parity … in the year 2161,” Jane Moir, the association’s research director for Hong Kong and Singapore, told its annual conference on Wednesday. Members of the association, which was set up in 1999, include investment managers overseeing more than US$36 trillion in assets globally.

The study, which was conducted last month, comes as Hong Kong sets the stage for more women on boards in companies listed in the city. About a third of all Hong Kong-listed companies will need to appoint at least one woman director by 2025 or face a penalty, under a stock exchange proposal that could be implemented as soon as January 1 after market consultation.

The proposal, which aims for the city to catch up with gender diversity efforts elsewhere, also seeks for all new listing candidates to have at least one woman on their boards at the time of going public.

Jane Moir, Asian Corporate Governance Association’s research director for Hong Kong and Singapore. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong-listed firms could take 140 years to reach gender parity on boards at current rate, study finds

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} At current organic growth trajectory, Hong Kong-listed companies will reach gender parity ‘in the year 2161’ Study comes as city works on quotas for women on boards of all listed companies

At current organic growth trajectory, Hong Kong-listed companies will reach gender parity ‘in the year 2161’

Study comes as city works on quotas for women on boards of all listed companies