http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2009/11/05/why-arent-there-more-women-on-corporate-boards-in-australia/ The Glass Hammer is an online community designed for women executives in financial services, law and business. Visit us daily to discover issues that matter, share experiences, and plan networking, your career and your life. Get a new job right here! Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:52:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2009/11/05/why-arent-there-more-women-on-corporate-boards-in-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-4984 Moneypenny Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:28:58 +0000 http://www.theglasshammer.com/?p=3430#comment-4984 As a Gen X Australian woman, it's not just the 'club' of blokes who prevent the increased participation of women on boards - in fact, in my experience, men are much more likely to mentor women for board experience than baby boomer women are. When I was exploring options for my current NED position, I was told by a woman whose business model is to place directors, and in particular female directors, on boards that, at 38, I was too young and required a few grey hairs before she thought men on boards would listen to me. As I noted, this had not been my experience when advising directors in my full time job, but she made it very clear that while she may want women on boards, she only wanted baby boomer women and wasn't interested in mentoring and promoting younger women through. And of course, she has now not only lost me as a potential candidate, she has lost my various successful friends who are looking to pick up board positions over the next 10 to 15 years. All in all, it was disappointing to find that lack of support - although it's by no means a universal attitude, it's certainly more prevalent than one would like to think. As a Gen X Australian woman, it’s not just the ‘club’ of blokes who prevent the increased participation of women on boards – in fact, in my experience, men are much more likely to mentor women for board experience than baby boomer women are. When I was exploring options for my current NED position, I was told by a woman whose business model is to place directors, and in particular female directors, on boards that, at 38, I was too young and required a few grey hairs before she thought men on boards would listen to me. As I noted, this had not been my experience when advising directors in my full time job, but she made it very clear that while she may want women on boards, she only wanted baby boomer women and wasn’t interested in mentoring and promoting younger women through. And of course, she has now not only lost me as a potential candidate, she has lost my various successful friends who are looking to pick up board positions over the next 10 to 15 years. All in all, it was disappointing to find that lack of support – although it’s by no means a universal attitude, it’s certainly more prevalent than one would like to think.

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