Women make up 29.7% of BoD at 100 top listed companies

KUALA LUMPUR – The participation of women as members of board of directors at the top 100 public listed companies increased to 29.7% on April 1, 2023 compared to 14% in 2016. 

Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu said only two seats were needed to reach the 30% target for the top 100 publicly listed companies. 

“This is a result of the initiative of the Securities Commission which has improved the Malaysian corporate affairs governance code in 2021 whereby all publicly listed companies are required to appoint at least one board member from among women. 

“This initiative comes into effect on September 1, 2022 for large capital companies and on June 1, 2023, for other listed companies,” she said during a question and answer session at Dewan Negara today. 

She was replying to Senator Tan Sri Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh who wanted to know the current statistics of women's involvement in key government positions and also as decision-makers for the private sector.  

Aiman Athirah said statistics from the Public Service Department showed that the number of women at the highest management level in the public service sector was 38.8% as of December 2022. 

She said 21%, which is 204 companies out of 979 publicly listed companies, have at least 30% women among the board members while 24% of government-linked companies have at least 30% women at the same level. 

In addition, she said the ratio of the number of women at the highest level i.e. key leadership positions such as chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief technical officer and chief operating officer in government-linked companies and publicly listed companies has exceeded the target of at least 30% women. 

She said the government has implemented various strategies to support efforts to achieve the target of at least 30% of women at the decision-making level. 

She said, this includes the three branches of the strategy which are improving legislation and policies to provide a safe and conducive environment for women, providing an ecosystem that supports women's involvement and providing opportunities and access to training to increase awareness and collaboration with stakeholders. – Bernama, June 22, 2023