Media Release: 15 September, 2026
Australia's largest listed companies have moved close to gender balanced boards, and the ASX now has the opportunity to set a benchmark that recognises it.
Chief Executive Women (CEW), in its submission to the ASX consultation on the draft fifth edition of the Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations [1], has urged the ASX to adopt a 40:40:20 gender diversity objective for S&P/ASX 300 boards and to retain the proposed disclosure on how diversity informs board succession planning. 40:40:20 would set an objective of at least 40% women, at least 40% men, and up to 20% of any gender.
CEW CEO Lisa Annese AM said the Principles should set the standard the market is moving towards.
“The role of the ASX principles and recommendations is to encourage best practice governance across Australia's largest listed companies. On board gender balance, that best practice is now 40:40:20.
“Australian boards have done the work to improve gender balance, responding to the business case and to investor expectations.
“This progress has been years in the making. The Principles should protect it and encourage companies to build on it.
“Setting a benchmark below what many companies have already achieved does the opposite. It gives the market no direction for future appointments and signals that a step back would be permissible,” Ms Annese said.
Women now hold 38 per cent of ASX 300 board seats, up from 20 per cent a decade ago [2]. Women hold 40 per cent of seats in the ASX 100 and higher indices, and 43.8 per cent of ASX 20 board positions [3].
In the United Kingdom, the voluntary FTSE Women Leaders Review raised its target for FTSE 350 boards to at least 40 per cent women in 2022. Boards reached it within the year, three years ahead of schedule, and women now hold 43 per cent of FTSE 350 board roles [4].
In Australia, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors has defined a gender balanced board as 40:40:20 since 2019 [5], and has described 30 per cent as a minimum expectation rather than a goal [6].
“The research demonstrates that diverse boards are good for business. A 10 per cent lift in women's representation on an ASX board is associated with a 4.9 per cent increase in market value [7],” Ms Annese said.
"Progress on gender diversity does not have to come at the expense of other forms of diversity, as has been suggested. Australian boards can pursue both.
"Women are not a homogenous group. Women from culturally and racially diverse backgrounds, First Nations women, women with disability and women with varied professional experience are all part of the pool boards appoint from.
"It is precisely this diversity of lived and professional experience that brings diversity of thought to the table.
"Boards drawing on a wider range of experience bring more perspectives to complex risks, from cyber and AI to geopolitics, workforce and the energy transition. That is a governance capability, not a diversity measure," Ms Annese said.
CEW's Senior Executive Census 2025 found that ASX 300 companies with a 40:40 gender target for executive leadership were 2.7 times more likely to achieve gender balance than companies with no target and had 11 per cent higher representation of women in their executive leadership teams [8].
“While those findings are about executive teams, the same logic applies to boards: companies are more likely to achieve goals they are measured against,” Ms Annese said.
“The ASX will settle its final recommendations by the end of the year, and they will shape board appointments into the 2030s.
“It would be a mistake to set a target the market is already surpassing, and to put the progress boards have made on achieving gender balance at risk.”
CEW's submission calls on the ASX to amend draft Recommendation 2.3(c) so the measurable objective for board gender diversity in the S&P/ASX 300 is not less than 40 per cent women and not less than 40 per cent men, with up to 20 per cent of any gender.
ENDS
[1] https://www.asx.com.au/about/regulation/corporate-governance-principles-and-recommendations
[2] https://www.watermarksearch.com.au/thought-leadership/2026-board-diversity-index
[3] https://www.aicd.com.au/news-media/media-releases/2026/aicd-gender-diversity-snapshot.html
[4] https://ftsewomenleaders.com/
[5] https://acsi.org.au/our-issues/gender-diversity/
[6] https://acsi.org.au/media-releases/30-women-on-boards-now-minimum-expectation-under-new-acsi-voting-policy-to-boost-director-diversity/
[7] https://bcec.edu.au/publications/gender-equity-insights-2020-delivering-the-business-outcomes/
[8] https://cew.org.au/hubfs/01_Website%20Content/Downloadable%20Resources/25_01%20CEW%20CENSUS%202025.pdf
Media Contact:
Mayank Gurnani
E: mgurnani@cew.org.au
M: +61414463827
About Chief Executive Women
Since 1985, Chief Executive Women (CEW) has influenced and engaged all levels of Australian business and government to remove the barriers to women's progression and ensure equal opportunity for prosperity. CEW's 1,400 members represent Australia's most senior and distinguished leaders across the country's largest private and public organisations, collectively overseeing over 1.3 million employees and $749 billion in revenue.