It was great to see 24 female board directors in Singapore recognised recently at the Singapore Institute of Directors and BoardAgender‘s launch of “Women on Board: Making a Real Difference”. However, there’s still a way to go. There are lots of things that can help move the dial to increase the number of women on boards.  Here are three actions that can be taken:

·      According to Simon Israel, Chairman of SingTel and Singapore Post, “men need to get the religion” and understand that good governance, including diversity, is good for business and for value creation. With 27 of the top listed 100 Singapore companies not having a woman on board – it is the men on these boards that needed to be in the room today and they need to keep hearing it from their fellow male directors. Male champions need to speak to their fellow men.

·      Professor Lawrence Loh of National University of Singapore pointed out in his summary of the ASEAN Corporate Governance scorecard, that the longer the tenure of independent directors on a board, the less female directors there were on that board. The implementation of capped maximum tenures would not just make more spots available for women, it would ensure companies’ boards are refreshed with new perspectives and adapt to the changing external environment.

·      The myth of there not being sufficient capable women to serve on boards should be dispelled with SID Chairman Willie Cheng pointing out that there are more female members of SID than there are SGX listed boards without women. Female directors need to introduce other female directors to share and increase the roles (where 3 women on a board is an ideal number). Men and women all need to be aware of their unconscious biases and focus on skills and capabilities rather than expectations based on past experiences.

There’s definitely a change in the wind – but it will need action rather than just words for the change to take hold.

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