tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/women-on-boards-15209/articlesWomen on boards – The Conversation2018-11-22T11:11:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1072232018-11-22T11:11:14Z2018-11-22T11:11:14ZSusanna Dinnage: Premier League gets first female chief executive, but sport remains a man’s world<p>The sporting world was taken by surprise recently after a woman was named the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/14/susanna-dinnage-premier-leagues-new-chief-executive/">new chief executive</a> of the English Premier League. Susanna Dinnage, made her name in broadcasting rather than the world of football, but is now the most powerful woman in English professional sport. </p>
<p>The Premier League’s appointment of Dinnage is in sharp contrast to the English Football Association, which has long been criticised for its apparent apathy towards the inclusion and progression of <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/492267/Greg-Dyke-White-and-male-FA-must-change">women</a>. Heather Rabbatts, who trained as a barrister but made her name as the youngest local authority chief executive was the first, and still sole, woman to be appointed to the FA board – and that was as recently as 2012. Similarly, both the English Cricket Board and the English Rugby Union have <a href="https://atthematch.com/article/how-can-sport-increase-female-representation-at-boardroom-level">only two female board members</a>.</p>
<p>It would be easy to see Dinnage’s leadership of arguably the world’s most successful sporting brand as a sign that women’s representation at the highest levels of sport governance is finally improving – after many years of male dominance. But it’s important to be wary of making assumptions of widespread, inevitable progress on the basis of one isolated example.</p>
<h2>Bridging the gap</h2>
<p>Of course, needing more women at the top is not just something that is unique to the sporting world. The City has come under <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3cc5b322-1191-11e8-8cb6-b9ccc4c4dbbb">similar pressure</a> to increase the representation of women at boardroom level. Only six FTSE 100 companies <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/0/female-bosses-ftse-100/">have a female CEO</a>. And yet, the target for female FTSE 350 board members is still <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ac1449b8-79f7-11e8-bc55-50daf11b720d">only 30% by 2020</a>. </p>
<p>In 2017, it was found that 33 out of 68 sport national governing bodies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/08/women-in-sport-fa-rfu-ecb-boardroom-diversity">were not meeting that same target</a>. So Dinnage’s appointment at the helm of the world’s most watched sporting league is most definitely welcome.</p>
<p>Dinnage has more than 20 years’ experience of <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/14/susanna-dinnage-premier-leagues-new-chief-executive/">negotiating broadcast deals</a>. She appears to have the credentials to serve the Premier League well – at a time when it will be able to broker new partnership deals. This includes partnerships with digital providers Amazon and DAZN – who are challenging broadcasting stalwart Sky TV for its monopolisation of football’s television audience.</p>
<p>But having the necessary experience and credentials does not necessarily guarantee women’s progression in the male-dominated sport industry. <a href="https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/beth-fielding-lloyd">Our current research</a> demonstrates how football is commonly a bastion for male dominance and privilege – at all levels – and despite the professionalisation of the women’s game, it is commonly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2018.1548612">resistant</a> to changes that may threaten that dominance. </p>
<p>We found that, after 155 years, the Football Association still relies on a <a href="http://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/who-we-are/fa-committees">complicated structure of committees and boards</a> – many with life memberships – which in our research was compared to a labyrinth of “old boys networks”. This labyrinth serves to make it difficult to understand where the responsibility for gender equality in football governance lies and has excluded women with relevant experience from contributing to the development of the sport. </p>
<h2>Wanted: a level playing field</h2>
<p>It is also a fallacy to assume that increasing opportunities for women to play sport professionally will <a href="https://atthematch.com/article/how-can-sport-increase-female-representation-at-boardroom-level">inevitably</a> lead to women “emerging” in sport governance. </p>
<p>Within English Cricket, for example, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23750472.2017.1386123">research</a> has shown that decision making positions typically remain within the men’s game. This means that attitudes towards the inclusion of women are superficial at best.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246713/original/file-20181121-161627-18s6e0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In cricket, the development of the women’s game has been limited because it has been left to ‘compete’ for resources with the existing, well-established and male-dominated clubs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Dinnage now has the opportunity to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46205500">tackle the challenges</a> the Premier League currently faces – such as pressure from elite clubs arguing for a greater share of overseas television rights and contentions that they should be contributing more funding to the grasroots – while embracing opportunities to strengthen its position as, arguably, the world’s leading sport brand. </p>
<p>However, while the appointment of Dinnage is welcome, leadership in the sport industry is far from being a level playing field. And as yet, despite more women working in elite sport, there is no real evidence that there has been a widespread shift in sport culture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Fielding-Lloyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows sport is commonly a bastion for male dominance and privilege.Beth Fielding-Lloyd, Principal Lecturer in Sport Studies, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996002018-07-11T06:13:31Z2018-07-11T06:13:31Z‘Network contagion’ is key to getting healthier numbers of women on company boards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227115/original/file-20180711-27042-1ccanjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When women make up 30% of boards that's when it starts having an impact. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mavis Wong</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Female representation of 30% on a company board is the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0815-z">tipping point</a> at which it stops being tokenistic and begins to make a difference on things like innovation. </p>
<p>Norway, France and Sweden have <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=54753">already achieved this target</a> for companies overall. In Australia, the ambition was to do so in 2018. At this stage, <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/three-female-board-directors-gone-from-amp/">that looks unlikely</a>. This suggests it is time to consider more surgical policies to increase female board membership.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/company-boards-are-stacked-with-friends-of-friends-so-how-can-we-expect-change-95790">Company boards are stacked with friends of friends so how can we expect change?</a>
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<p>Our ongoing research aims to understand the main drivers of women’s participation on boards. We imagined that the drivers might be complex and multidimensional. In fact, we found that they were pretty simple.</p>
<p>So far we have found the <em>only</em> significant predictor that boards will reach the 30% target is that they have a director who sits on another board that has already done so.</p>
<p>We have looked at the company boards of the 200 largest companies on the Australian Stock Exchange (the ASX200) and how they are interconnected through their board members. These connections help with the sharing of expertise and experience across firms. </p>
<p>The directors of the ASX200 form a classic network. Of the largest 200 companies in Australia, 172 companies form one giant “component”, linked together through shared directors. </p>
<p>This is what the network looks like (click to zoom):</p>
<p>The blue figures represent men and the pink figures represent women. You can see that some boards have no women, some have one or two, and some have three or more. </p>
<h2>Which factors are significant?</h2>
<p>We tested any variables that might make a difference in the recruitment of women to boards. These included the industry sector, market capitalisation, affiliation of a board member with the <a href="http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/">Australian Institute of Company Directors</a> (AICD), and the presence of a “<a href="http://malechampionsofchange.com/">male champion of change</a>” on the board.</p>
<p>We thought some industries (say health) might be more likely to cross the 30% threshold than others (say mining). Smaller companies might be less likely to appoint women to their boards, because this is <a href="http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/statistics">indeed the case for boards outside the ASX200</a>.</p>
<p>Boards with an AICD graduate or fellow might also be more likely to cross the threshold, given the institute’s <a href="http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/30-percent-by-2018">robust advocacy of women on boards</a>. </p>
<p>The same logic applies to the <a href="http://malechampionsofchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MCC-National-est-2015_-Progress-Report-2017_FINAL-COPY.pdf">presence of a male champion of change on a board</a>.</p>
<p>We found five variables that make a statistically significant difference to the appointment of female directors. However, only one of these variables makes it <em>more</em> likely that the board hits the 30% target, which is having an AICD fellow on the board. This makes it significantly more likely that the board has three women.</p>
<p>The other four variables make it <em>less</em> likely that a board will hit the 30% target. Specifically, firms in four sectors – consumer discretionary (retail), health, industrials and materials – are significantly less likely than the rest to reach the 30% threshold.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/experienced-shareholders-better-than-independent-directors-for-business-61160">Experienced shareholders better than independent directors for business</a>
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<h2>The network contagion effect</h2>
<p>We then tested for different kinds of “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/network-effect.asp">network effects</a>”. Network effects can take many forms. For example, the reciprocity effect occurs where you “like” me and I “like” you. </p>
<p>The popularity effect is where we both “follow” the same celebrity on social media but not each other. </p>
<p>In the case of the ASX boards, we found that just one network effect is statistically significant – network contagion.</p>
<p>Contagion literally describes the biological transmission of a disease from one person to another. In the board context, it refers to a process of social influence, where shared directors transmit ideas and practices from one board to another. </p>
<p>We found that boards are significantly more likely to have reached the 30% target when they have a director who sits on another board that has reached the 30% target. Let’s call it the “director network contagion” effect.</p>
<p>Once we include the director network contagion effect, all other variables discussed earlier became irrelevant – sector, market capitalisation, AICD affiliation and male champions of change make no difference to the appointment of women on boards. </p>
<p>Only director network contagion is important.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/daniel-andrews-board-quotas-and-the-myth-of-insufficient-women-39501">Daniel Andrews, board quotas and the myth of 'insufficient women'</a>
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<h2>Time for a more focused strategy</h2>
<p>Our findings suggest that current strategies to advance women on boards lack focus. We need a more surgical approach to the issue, directed towards the frontier where boards with three women or more interact with boards under the 30% threshold.</p>
<p>Think of it as the inversion of a public health campaign to prevent the spread of a disease. The first step in such a campaign is identify the diseased and anyone who has had contact with them, then to isolate them.</p>
<p>The first step in our proposed campaign is to identify the boards that meet the 30% threshold and any boards with which they share directors, then intensify their exposure. </p>
<p>Having said this, our findings are based upon a sliver of data: the biggest companies in the country at a single point in time. </p>
<p>What would we learn if we studied patterns of recruitment for the past decade? And what would we learn if we extended our analysis beyond the ASX200, to other listed companies, private companies, government boards and not-for-profits? We would love to answer these questions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The only predictor of boards reaching 30% female directors is if it has a director who sits on another board that has already met the target.Michael Gilding, Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of TechnologyDean Lusher, Professor of Innovation Studies, Swinburne University of TechnologyHelen Bird, Course Director, Master of Corporate Governance & Research Fellow, Swinburne Law School, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/504982015-11-13T11:11:17Z2015-11-13T11:11:17ZMore women on company boards, but what about the public sector?<p>There are now no all-male boards in FTSE 100 companies, marking a watershed in women’s representation, according to the launch of the <a href="http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/research/ftse/FemaleFTSEReportMarch2015.pdf">Female FTSE Board Report 2015</a>. Since the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31480/11-745-women-on-boards.pdf">Davies Report</a> set a target of 25% of women serving on boards of FTSE 100 companies four years ago, women’s representation has almost doubled. </p>
<p>But the successes of the FTSE 100 are not mirrored in the public sector. Despite a number of government interventions since 2010, representation of women, ethnic minorities and those with disabilities remains challenging to say the least. </p>
<p>In health, although women account for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2014/jun/03/nhs-needs-more-women-leaders">77% of the NHS workforce</a> they hold only 37% of board positions. A mere 30% reach the position of chair, compared to 70% of men.</p>
<p>In policing, the picture is even bleaker: the system of elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) introduced in 2012 was driven by the need for greater transparency and public accountability. But the elections resulted in <a href="https://theconversation.com/by-extending-the-remit-of-pccs-the-government-is-playing-with-fire-47909">only six women PCCS compared with 35 men</a>. </p>
<p>Combined with a total lack of representation of ethnic minorities this led to the system <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/news/140505-pcc-rpt-pubn/">being described as a “monoculture”</a>. And it makes the current government plans to extend the remit of PCCs to include all emergency services concerning, to say the least.</p>
<p>In spite of the fact that there are around 22,000 schools in England, governed by an estimated 300,000 volunteer governors, we have no idea how representative these boards are. No statistics have ever been kept.</p>
<p>Since September 1, 2015, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/459032/The_Constitution_of_Governing_Bodies_of_Maintained_Schools_Stat_Guidance....pdf">schools have been required</a> to post certain information regarding their governing body on their websites. The Department for Education is currently looking at ways that this can be made easier, but there is no indication of how this will be monitored or whether diversity data would be gathered at any point. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bris.ac.uk/sps/policypolitcs/policyandpolitics2015/full-papers/">government’s current emphasis on recruiting people</a> with “business skills” as school governors runs the risk of creating exactly the same issues around <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drive-to-increase-number-of-women-on-public-boards">diversity as have occurred in corporate public boards</a> – the very same issue that the FTSE 100 project sought to eradicate.</p>
<p>In higher education the outlook appears to be more positive with a fifth of the boards of governing bodies in the UK possessing a 40-60% split between men and women members. <a href="https://www.kpmg.com/UK/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/PDF/Market%20Sector/Education/women-count-leaders-higher-education-2013.pdf">Out of 166 higher education institutions</a> in the UK, women make up 37% of all governing body members. But only 12% of chairs of these boards are women.</p>
<h2>Quotas or no quotas?</h2>
<p>The FTSE report is impressive, not least because it demonstrates what can be achieved without the introduction of quotas. But it also indicates that achieving diversity on boards doesn’t come without hard work and collaboration. </p>
<p>Lack of supply of qualified female candidates is often quoted as a reason for the lack of diversity on public sector boards. An important part of the <a href="http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/ftse">FTSE 100 experience</a> lay in encouraging and supporting the pipeline of women as potential leaders. It carries the additional benefit of encouraging women to fulfil their potential on merit rather than relying on quotas to do the job. </p>
<p>The substantial <a href="http://www.quotaproject.org/aboutQuotas.cfm">body of research into quotas</a> – largely relating to their use in political appointments – has shown that although they act immediately, they also have the potential <a href="http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/research-programmes/stranded-assets/publications.php">to reinforce the status quo</a>. This is because they recruit a “particular type of candidate”, which then provides too much “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/16/lack-of-diversity-on-boards-of-us-oil-firms-increases-risk-of-bad-investments">group think”</a>. </p>
<p>“Group think” is recognised by psychologists <a href="http://www.psysr.org/about/pubs_resources/groupthink%20overview.htm">as being</a> a strong desire for harmony or conformity within a group which can result in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making. In the worst case scenario, members <a href="http://www.corpgov.net/2015/02/groupthink-boardroom-context/">go to extraordinary lengths</a> to minimise conflict by suppressing dissenting viewpoints and isolating themselves from “outside influences”. In the case of boards, the phenomenon is found far more frequently in those that lack diversity in their membership.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/research/rr85_final.pdf">Research suggests</a> that there are also problems in the appointment process: organisations often employ a narrow definition of experience, essentially seeking candidates with prior board or executive experience. This restricts the access of qualified female candidates, whose backgrounds might not fit this narrow profile. </p>
<p>Interpersonal dynamics are often found to play a part, largely in terms of recruiters’ preference for similar candidates and narrow perceptions of who fits and who doesn’t. Social capital and relationships have also been found to be critical and organisations such as <a href="http://www.womenonboards.co.uk/">Women on Boards</a> have been set up to provide formal and informal support through referencing and sponsorship. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101477/original/image-20151110-21214-1bdggbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Good for business.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>The benefits of a diverse board</h2>
<p>There is little doubt that diversity on boards is a good thing. A recent report by <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/why_diversity_matters">McKinsey</a> argued <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/growth/how_advancing_womens_equality_can_add_12_trillion_to_global_growth">that advancing</a> womens’<a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/features/women_matter">equality could add US$12 trillion to global growth</a>. </p>
<p>Other evidence shows that <a href="http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/bottom-line-corporate-performance-and-womens-representation-boards">companies with mixed boards</a> outperform <a href="http://www.womenonboards.co.uk/resource-centre/selected-reading/why-women-are-good-for-business.htm">those with all male ones</a>. There is also substantial evidence to <a href="http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/b51198804b07d3b2acabad77fcc2938e/Focus9_Women_on_Boards.pdf?MOD=AJPERES">support the fact</a> that women also <a href="http://www.womenonboards.co.uk/resource-centre/selected-reading/articles/women-as-sports-role-models.htm">bring particular skills to the table</a>. </p>
<p>So with the evidence that women on boards increase performance, it’s time the public sector woke up to the benefits of female representation and made a concerted effort to emulate their FTSE counterparts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
If the FTSE 100 can do it, then the public sector can also wake up to the benefits of female representation.Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Public Policy and Management , The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/439242015-07-13T20:19:23Z2015-07-13T20:19:23ZOutdated views shut entrepreneurial women out of capital markets<p>Despite considerable success in the international arena, many female entrepreneurs still struggle to raise capital. New research suggests that lenders may have an outdated concept of what an entrepreneur looks like. </p>
<p>We recently <a href="http://www.wigb.gov.au/women-global-trade-and-what-it-takes-to-succeed-2015.html">surveyed</a> 416 Australian female businesswomen, and complemented the survey with focus groups.</p>
<p>Of survey participants, 183 were female business owner-operators – what most of us would call entrepreneurs. We found that over a third (35%) of these female entrepreneurs who operated internationally had recorded sales growth of more than 40% over the previous 12 months. </p>
<p>The growth is even higher among those female owned and operated businesses that had internationalised in the past five years, with 52% reporting sales climbed by more than 40% in the past year. Employment growth paralleled sales growth, indicating promising gains for the Australian economy.</p>
<p>There was, understandably, a strong appetite for more growth. Most of these entrepreneurs (74%) were looking to expand the number of countries in which they operated in the near future. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, our data point to some substantial constraints to these internationalisation ambitions, which we view as a possible handbrake on future growth of the Australian economy. The most significant is shortcomings – and possible discrimination – in the Australian capital markets.</p>
<p>As this is the second time we have run this survey (see a discussion of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266613695_Australia%27s_Underestimated_Resource_Women_Doing_Business_Globally">initial report</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-women-go-overseas-to-escape-the-glass-ceiling-14797">here</a>), we were able to track some respondents from year to year. </p>
<p>Of the women in our first survey who indicated an intention to expand, 60% did so. This longitudinal panel also allowed us to track changes in perceptions of barriers over the past 12 months. Internationalisation should become easier over time for any given businesswoman through experiential learning, mentoring, support networks and the like. </p>
<p>However, this wasn’t the case for many. Over half (52%) of the entrepreneurs reported “lack of alternative sources of capital” was a greater barrier to their international expansion than it had been 12 months earlier. </p>
<p>So how do female entrepreneurs fund their start-ups and their expansion?</p>
<p>Most women we surveyed rely primarily on personal savings and reinvested profits to fund expansion. Only 21% of the entrepreneurs we surveyed had attempted to borrow to fund internationalisation. Of these attempts, only 27% were successful. A tiny proportion (4%) of the owner-operators who are yet to internationalise have tried to borrow to fund international business opportunities. None have been successful.</p>
<p>We asked the 78% of internationally-engaged owner-operators, and 96% of not-international owner-operators who had not sought funds for international business expansion why this was the case. </p>
<p>Around a quarter of these women (23% of the internationally-engaged, 28% of the not internationally engaged) said they were discouraged by an inadequate track record or insufficient security. An additional 17% of internationally engaged owner-operators viewed the risk of such borrowing as too high.</p>
<p>The sophistication of Australia’s banking system, and our low cost of capital relative to many emerging economies, should be a source of advantage to Australian entrepreneurs. </p>
<p>Despite weathering the GFC relatively unscathed, Australia’s institutions appear excessively conservative and risk averse. Among the internationally-engaged female entrepreneurs, 23% rated the level of ease in accessing finance for international expansion as very difficult, and 32% assessed it difficult. Only 2% graded it as very easy, and 8% as easy.</p>
<p>Slightly more than a third of owner-operators (36% for both the internationalised and not-yet-internationalised groups) claimed financial institutions did not offer an environment in which they felt at ease discussing their financing needs. </p>
<p>Around half the respondents advocated better information about funding options available to entrepreneurs. Many also called for simpler processes and streamlined paperwork, and for lenders to explore offering more flexible loan terms. </p>
<p>Many female owner-operators appealed for more face-to-face contact with lenders and consistency of personnel, and for financial institutions to employ staff who better understand running a business. </p>
<h2>Lenders and gender</h2>
<p>Almost two fifths (39%) of the internationally active entrepreneurs felt their gender made a difference to their access to finance. This number was considerably higher (52%) for those who were yet to internationalise. </p>
<p>Of the internationally active female entrepreneurs, 62% are more than 50 years of age – certainly not the stereotypical entrepreneur, who is typically depicted as an assertive, outspoken young man.</p>
<p>However, the banks might want to consider what they’re missing out on.</p>
<p>As debtors, these entrepreneurs are safer bets than most. The women in this entrepreneurial group are very well-educated (78% hold a bachelor degree or higher). They have more life and business experience than their junior competitors and 50% have international business experience, typically for five or more years.</p>
<p>In focus group discussions, a number of the owner-operators pointed the finger not just at lending institutions, but also the regulatory constraints on other potential funding sources such as superannuation and managed funds. </p>
<p>Tellingly, venture capitalists and angel investors were almost completely absent from any funding arrangements. Most of these start-ups were solely owned, or partnerships with spouses and long-term partners. </p>
<p>Without a more proactive capital market that recognises the promise of female entrepreneurs (whatever their age), Australia’s international business performance will be constrained.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André Sammartino undertook this research in conjunction with Women in Global Business (WIGB), a national program that supports Australian businesswomen in taking their products and services to the world. WIGB is funded by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and delivered in partnership with Australia’s state and territory governments. Dr Sammartino received no payment from WIGB for this research.</span></em></p>Female entrepreneurs still face substantial barriers to international expansion, including perceived discrimination in the Australian capital markets – and that may limit Australia’s economic growth.Andre Sammartino, Senior Lecturer in International Business & Strategic Management, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/381562015-03-08T19:03:36Z2015-03-08T19:03:36ZThe 30% Club is coming to Australia, but ‘men speaking for women’ may miss the point<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73564/original/image-20150303-15941-1aooauj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The UK's 30% Club is coming to Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dskley/8959094355/in/photolist-eDFGC4-opxdmc-7iBLiH-8Wg6hi-2pvUPH-mRdJmi-6KwukE-7hwia3-7bfkwk-dcTDrr-8dFQBQ-6bNKj4-7zyviy-9t84q4-nwXHog-6ekC6S-7wuoHH-qxaMpd-7YD76i-4QoxM9-e1TAcm-5QTqh9-b4A3BX-nNJu1W-km1m5-fGzCot-4RCXbu-padTQo-e9xhSY-eywZiK-dUJr6t-e9xhaY-dQY51M-snrnZ-9eCpvF-jGJPHT-aZ5x9M-qDEF6K-dgiTYc-pR1Ypb-jCpnn9-jFoHcU-7gYZvM-hHyy2F-829cGw-sogCL-mZy1jK-gMexAK-9gkry9-acSwEX">Flickr/Dennis Skley</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Launched in the United Kingdom in 2010 with the aim of increasing women’s board representation, the <a href="http://www.30percentclub.org">30% Club</a> will launch an Australian chapter in May this year. The local arm of the organisation aims to increase the number of women on the boards of ASX 200 companies by 2018.</p>
<p>Founded by Helena Morrissey, the organisation takes an anti-quota, business-led approach by lobbying the (mostly male) chairs and CEOs of listed companies to commit to improving gender balance at the top table. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/helena-morrissey-aiming-at-britains-glass-ceilings-gets-results/">Dealbook column in the New York Times</a> approvingly suggests the group has been instrumental in helping to “almost double” women’s board representation on listed UK companies since 2010 (although it is difficult to see where the NYT’s figure of raising representation from 12% to 23% comes from, as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/320000/bis-women-on-boards-2014.pdf">2014 Davies Review Annual Report</a> in the UK puts the figure at 20.7% for FTSE 100 companies, up from in 12.5% in 2011). </p>
<p>On joining this club, senior male leaders are only asked to “believe in the value of diversity”, not to make any tangible commitment to actually promote women to senior roles or boards. Membership does not require a commitment to achieving the 30% representation, nor any accompanying actions aimed at improving diversity.</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, targeted, persuasive messaging to better engage senior male business leaders is absolutely critical to making gender balance the norm in the senior ranks of organisations. However, the snail’s pace of progress challenges the apparent success of these initiatives.</p>
<h2>Elitist “men’s clubs”</h2>
<p>Any attempt to promote the issue of organisational diversity is laudable. It is a welcome change to hear prominent CEOs talking publicly about topics such as unconscious bias, and positioning diversity as a core business issue. </p>
<p>The Australian Human Right’s Commission’s (AHRC) Male Champions of Change (MCC) initiative is a local example of this kind of “men speaking up for women” movement. </p>
<p>As Commissioner Liz Broderick recently pointed out, the MCC provides strong visible leadership on the issue of diversity, and proponents insist the initiative is much more than just a self-congratulatory talk-fest. However, in the absence of firm commitments to specific actions, how can a group of mostly white, middle-class, middle-aged, and well-educated men avoid becoming an ideological echo chamber, mirroring each other’s concerns but neglecting to engage with the issues at a brass-tacks level.</p>
<p>The Male Champions of Change have just released their first “<a href="http://malechampionsofchange.com/progress-report-2014/">report card</a>”, and it shows that companies headed by a third of them (eight of the 25 members) achieved as below average results in at least one of the WGEA’s diversity performance benchmarks. Commissioner Broderick rightly points out that change is more likely where a senior leader is involved. </p>
<p>However, she also highlights a weakness for these initiatives; that change is dependent on the direct intervention of individual leaders. If our diversity achievements remain dependent on the “passion projects” of individuals, then progress risks being unpredictable, and ultimately unsustainable. </p>
<p>When it comes from moving beyond traction, and toward action, the tougher questions of whether diversity will ever rate as a pressing organisational performance issue (up there with revenue and sales for example), are unlikely to be tackled in these private members clubs. Indeed it is hard not to notice that these group do not exactly exemplify the kind of diversity they aim to promote. </p>
<p>If diverse groups perform better (and <a href="http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/why-diversity-matters">the evidence</a> very strongly suggests that they do), then surely these “CEO clubs” could benefit from embracing a broader membership. Perhaps this is why the comforting rhetoric does not seem to be matched by concrete action.</p>
<p>In fact, when it comes to driving concrete action, we risk going backwards. The Prime Minister Tony Abbott will be signing on to the popular <a href="http://www.heforshe.org">HeForShe</a> initiative, another of those campaigns where high prolfile men get to tout their diversity credentials.</p>
<p>At the same time, his government has announced that it will streamline the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (<a href="http://www.wgea.gov.au">WGEA</a>) mandatory gender diversity reporting requirements. Specifically, it will remove the “most onerous” aspects relating to remuneration, and monitoring of job applications and interviews, requirements that the previous government had scheduled to introduce in April of this year, a move many see as a watering down of organisations’ responsibilities. </p>
<p>This comes at a time when the very data collected by the WGEA shows a widening pay gap. If the old adage “what gets measured, gets managed” is even partly true, then organisations are will soon have even fewer reasons to be bold on the diversity challenge. </p>
<h2>Men speaking for women</h2>
<p>While there is no reason men cannot be valued advocates for women’s advancement, there is also no denying that many working in the diversity domain see these initiatives as exclusive, often invitation-only affairs, where senior men engage in mutual admiration of their commitment to the cause. We know that the messenger is a critical determinant of the success of the message. If engaging men is important, and it arguably is, then who better to communicate the diversity message than senior male role models.</p>
<p>Indeed, when high profile women business leaders speak publicly on the need for greater diversity, they are often dismissed as self-interested. The issue is less about the value of men speaking for women, and more about what all this speaking is achieving. Engaging men is important, but accurate information and tangible initiatives are arguably even more so.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.the100percentproject.com.au">Recent research</a> by the 100% Project, an Australian not-for-profit aimed at increasing organisational gender balance, suggests that a significant number of people who do not believe in quotas, or that gender discrimination exists, changed their views after reading statistics on women’s representation. The same research also shows that it is overwhelmingly men who do not believe that gender discrimination exists (almost 60%, compared with only 13% for women). Similarly, the <a href="http://www.markssattin.com.au/diversity-and-equality">Marks Sattin</a> Equality Report released recently reveals that only 32% of men believe there is a gender pay gap, compared to almost 70% of women.</p>
<p>Given these observations, we clearly need to better engage men in the process. There’s also no doubting the importance of hearing men’s voices in the diversity debate, particularly since the senior executives controlling the budgets to fund organisational programs are still predominantly male. Engaging men an essential part of the process, but we should be wary of coming to believe that the problem has been solved just because we hear high profile captains of industry applauding their diversity achievements in public more often.</p>
<h2>Less talk, more action</h2>
<p>In my organisational work, the constant refrain from the mostly HR professionals tasked with the challenge of effecting practical change, is one of “Yes, we already agree with the rhetoric, but how do we make it real?”. One might point out that this is progress in itself. There was a time, not very long ago when many senior executives did not necessarily agree with the rhetoric, let alone aspire to achieving change. </p>
<p>But I suspect that there is a cluster of frustrated HR professionals out there dearly wishing they could corner their Male Champion of Change CEO for five minutes to explain why the diversity and inclusion gains they publicise have not necessarily translated into real improvements. Perhaps these leaders need to hear a broader (more diverse) range of voices. The issue may be more one of style over substance, and many diversity practitioners would argue that the time for substance is well any truly here. Less talk, more action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Whelan is the Managing Director of Psynapse, a diversity and inclusion advisory company. </span></em></p>The UK-based 30% Club, which aims to increase the number of women on boards is coming to Australia. But does its back-room approach really work?Jennifer Whelan, Research Fellow, Asia Pacific Social Impact Leadership Centre, Melbourne Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.