{"id":1228,"date":"2015-09-14T22:23:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T22:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDInet\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2015-09-28T13:52:10","modified_gmt":"2015-09-28T13:52:10","slug":"bell-rings-to-end-trading-as-a-mans-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/bell-rings-to-end-trading-as-a-mans-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Bell rings to end trading as a man’s game 10 Sept 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to view\u00a0original article at WomensAgenda.com<\/a><\/h3>\n
\"Capture\"<\/a><\/h5>\n
BY JULIETTE SALY<\/span> \/ <\/span>SEP 10, 2014 14:26PM<\/span><\/h5>\n

It would be nice to think a prominent woman could ring the bell at the stock exchange without it being heralded as something extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, trading is still seen as predominantly a man\u2019s game so there was quite a turnout at the ASX in Sydney this morning to witness Irene Natividad, Chair of Corporate Women Directors International, do the honours.<\/p>\n

Practising what she preaches, that is the empowerment of all women, Natividad encouraged all the females in the room including Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick to join her for the ceremonial ringing at 10am, exclaiming \u201cI hope the market goes up!\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, the ASX 200 was in fact down 0.6%, but let\u2019s not blame that on gender.<\/p>\n

American Natividad is well practised at bell-ringing. The CWDI has opened trade at 13 other exchanges around the world including Hong Kong, Zurich, Istanbul and the NASDAQ in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just as important for women (to be at the exchange) as men who come here more frequently,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we\u2019re not here, it\u2019s as if we don\u2019t belong\u2026and we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the bell ringing, Natividad joined Broderick and Aurizon CEO Lance Hockridge, along with former IBM Australia Chief Andrew Stevens to discuss the issue of women on boards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hockridge and Stevens are part of Broderick\u2019s \u2018club\u2019 \u2013 Male Champions of Change \u2013 which aims to accelerate the advancement of females in leadership roles.<\/p>\n

Natividad praised the ASX as having a comprehensive approach to gender balance with 98% of the companies which make up the ASX 200 instilling a diversity policy on boards.<\/p>\n

She called it the \u201cgold standard\u201d for stock markets around the world, however cites more improvement is needed.<\/p>\n

CWDI research shows 18.3% of all board seats are held by women in Australia, compared to 16.9% in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201c18.3% is not parity\u2026we have a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit disappointed,\u201d said ASX Chair Rick Holliday-Smith, who says we almost need to rewrite the rule book and ensure outdated views on women in leadership roles become extinct.<\/p>\n

The percentage of women on boards in Fortune 200\u2019s list of the best performing companies worldwide is 17.3%. It\u2019s increased by less than 1% annually over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlory hallelujah,\u201d said Natividad with sarcasm. \u201cIt\u2019s pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more worrying according to the CWDI report is the fact the top three economic powerhouses \u2013 the US, China and Japan \u2013 are actually falling behind in terms of board representation. Over the past 10 years they have seen a decline in women on boards while other nations have been improving the gender imbalance.<\/p>\n

Natividad says we need a \u201ccountry, not company\u201d approach to ensure balanced board representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the UAE can do it, (any country) can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil is the only company in the Fortune rankings which has equal representation on its board.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Woolworths ties for 9th<\/sup><\/span> place with a third of its nine directors female.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you reach three or more, no-one cares anymore,\u201d says Natividad, \u201cyou\u2019re just a board member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lance Hockridge admits Aurizon is one of the most \u201cquintessentially blokey environments\u201d in the country. Yet he\u2019s committed to board diversity, and ensuring his company promotes women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a women\u2019s issue, it\u2019s not a men\u2019s issue. It\u2019s an issue of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hockridge, Broderick and Stevens all admit societal change as well as a top-down approach from leadership is needed to ensure diversity within the workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about men speaking for women,\u201d claimed Broderick. \u201cIt\u2019s about men standing up beside us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to move the needle for the nation,\u201d said Stevens. He thinks one approach companies could adopt to ensure more women are represented in senior roles would be through financial incentives.<\/p>\n

There has been a lot of criticism that quotas for women on boards simply ticks a box, and may not necessarily ensure the best person is being promoted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want women board directors,\u201d implored Natividad. \u201cWe want board directors who happen to be women.\u201d<\/p>\n

ASX Chair Rick Holliday-Smith hopes the next 50 years will see far more advancement than the past 50 have in terms of gender diversity in business and Natividad agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe (women) are not where we were before, we are not where we want to be. We are not where we ought to be, but not where we have been,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Glory hallelujah, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to view\u00a0original article at WomensAgenda.com BY JULIETTE SALY \/ SEP 10, 2014 14:26PM It would be nice to think a prominent woman could ring the bell at the stock exchange without it being heralded as something extraordinary. Unfortunately,… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1778,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions\/1778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globewomen.org\/CWDINet\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}