Canadian women are actively involved in the corporate community as business owners, shareholders, executives, managers and employees, and they play an equally important role in the marketplace as consumers, they should have balanced representation on boards of directors.

According to the research organization Catalyst, women make up 47% of the Canadian labor force but only 14% of board seats among the 500 largest Canadian companies surveyed by the Financial Post. Women’s representation on the boards of publicly traded companies still stands at only 10.3% (29.1% for Crown corporations). Close to one-third of the companies ranked in the Financial Post 500 had two or more women on their boards, but 41.9% still do not have any women board members. At this rate, only one out of five board seats will be held by women by 2020.

As many industrialized countries have discovered, legislation is needed to achieve balanced representation in the corporate world. Switzerland, Norway, Spain and France have passed laws requiring women’s representation on boards to reach 40% within six years. According to Corporate Knights, only 9% of board seats in Norway were held by women in 2003. With the legislation in place, that percentage was already at 44% in 2008.

Bill S-203

• Senator Hervieux-Payette’s Bill S-203 on balanced representation of women and men on boards
• Bill S-203 News release (June 23, 2021)
• Senator Hervieux-Payette’s Speech - Second reading of Bill S-203 (October 26, 2021)

TIAW World of Difference 100 Award

• Media Advisory (October 26, 2021)
• TIAW Invitation
• Letter of congratulations from the Honourable Rona Ambrose, P.C., Minister for the status of women
• Press release (October 27, 2021)
• Congratulations by the Honourable Wilfred P. Moore, Senator (November 2, 2021)

Media

• Senator to renew push for more women on boards - Globe and Mail by Janet McFarland (October 26, 2021)

Pictures

Studies

• 2011 Quick takes on Canadian Women, by Catalyst