15% of board directors on Malaysia’s top 100 companies are women

Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: About 15% of board directors on Malaysia’s top 100 companies are women, as of March 31, 2016.

The 30% Club Malaysia said this figure was a testament to the foresight of these companies to pursue their value creation through the “women agenda”.

The Malaysian Chapter of the 30% Club, launched by the Prime Minister in May 2015, is a movement that champions diversity in the workplace, and seeks to break the glass ceiling for women in the top management and board levels.

The 30% Club movement began in the UK to induct women leaders into the upper echelons of corporate service.

The movement recently held its first series of breakfast roundtable meetings at Lanai Kijang here, attended by its chairpersons, board directors and CEOs representing over 30 public-listed companies and government-linked investment companies.

“The power of business leaders lobbying for change must not be under estimated, as this is exactly what drove the exponential growth for Women on Boards (WOBs) in the UK over the last 5 years,” said one of the founding chairs of 30% Club Malaysia, Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar.

Another founding chair of the movement, Tan Sri Megat Zaharudin said: “As the boards start to proactively recruit more women, these women could inspire others to do the same through showing how they cope with board work and time commitments, whilst assisting their companies build foundations for more all-round gender inclusiveness in future”.