Provincial and territorial securities regulators on Thursday published the underlying data used to prepare their review of corporate gender equality policies, which was published back in September.
“Providing this data reflects our commitment to transparency and is intended to encourage further dialogue on the representation of women on boards and in senior management positions,” says Louis Morisset, chairman of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and president and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), in a statement.
See: Long way to go to achieve gender equity
The data, which is provided in a spreadsheet, reports on the regulators’ findings for each of the 722 Toronto Stock Exchange-listed issuers that had their disclosure reviewed.
The spreadsheet lists each of the issuers, along with the number and percentage of female directors and officers at each firm, and their disclosure of policies, targets, and mechanisms for encouraging gender diversity and board renewal. It also includes the firms’ stated reasons for their approach to diversity, including their reasons for not using targets, or considering gender in making board appointments.
The review followed the adoption of new rules in several provinces requiring issuers to step up their disclosure on diversity in order to help better inform shareholders, and to encourage companies to pay more attention to these issues. The regulators’ review found that many issuers needed additional guidance to fully comply with the new disclosure requirements, and it called on them to enhance their reporting in this area in the future.
As well, the review found that very few firms have adopted explicit targets for female representation in both the boardroom and the executive ranks; and that women continue to be poorly represented at the highest levels of many firms.