On October 2, 2019, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published Multilateral Staff Notice, 58-311, Report on Fifth Staff Review of Disclosure Regarding Women on Boards and in Executive Officer Positions (the Report). The Report summarizes a review of the disclosure made by 641 reporting issuers under Form 58-101F1 Corporate Governance Disclosure, particularly as it relates to gender diversity among corporate leadership. This year’s review is the fifth annual review on the matter.
In summary, the Report noted these key trends:
73% of issuers had at least one woman on their boards, up 7% from the previous year;
Although 17% of board seats were held by women, the report noted this number tended to increase with the size of the issuer and varied by industry. This latter number was also up by 2% from the previous year;
33% of all issuers’ vacated board seats were occupied by women, up from 29% in the previous year;
Of all issuers, 5% had board chairs who were women, with 4% in the CEO’s position and 15% in the CFO’s role. 64% of issuers had at least one woman in an executive officer position. These numbers tended to remain largely unchanged over the previous year; and
50% of issuers had adopted policies relating to the representation of women on their boards, while 22% had adopted targets for the representation of women on their boards, and 3% had adopted targets for women in executive roles.
The Report also looked at director term limits and board renewal. It found that 21% of all issuers had some form of director term limits, while 36% of issuers had some other form board renewal, but 39% had no such plans in place. The percentage of issuers with term limits in place remained unchanged from the previous year.
You can download the Report here.
DISCLAIMER: This post is intended to convey general information about legal issues and developments as of the date above. It does not constitute legal advice and must not be treated or relied on as such.