(Toronto) For the very first time, women occupy a third of the directorships on the boards of directors of the companies comprising the S&P/TSX composite stock market index of the Toronto Stock Exchange, the firm ISS Corporate Solutions revealed on Monday. .
The corporate governance firm explained that when it completed its analysis in January, women held 33.7% of board seats, up from 27.9% in January 2020.
By comparison, women held 32.3% of all S&P 500 directorships in the United States.
According to ISS, the number of female CEOs at S&P/TSX index companies increased from six in 2020 to nine in 2023, and the number of non-employee female board chairs increased from 13 to 22 over the course of 2020. the same period.
Racial and ethnic minorities now hold 14.1% of board positions at S&P/TSX companies, up from 8.3% in 2020.
ISS’s gender analysis is based on a review of 2,283 director positions, while its racial and ethnic diversity review examined 575 director positions.
“Canadian companies have a slight advantage over their American counterparts when it comes to gender diversity on boards, but there is still a long way to go when it comes to the prevalence of underrepresented minority groups,” said ISS chief Marija Kramer said in a statement.
“But directionally, our analysis shows that racial and ethnic minorities are making significant inroads on Canadian boards and this trend may well accelerate as regulations and guidelines push companies to disclose more about the individual characteristics of the administrators. »