HONG KONG: A study by a non-profit group reveals that the participation of women in the corporate board rooms of Hong Kong is significantly below their standing in other leading economies.

Women hold 52 of the total 585 board positions of Hong Kong's blue chip companies. The percentage (8.9 percent) is significantly lower than the UK (11.7 percent), the US (14.5 percent) or Canada (15 percent). The figures derive from a joint study by the non-profit organization Community Business and the UK's Cranfield School of Management.

Though Hong Kong's standing isn't considered terribly poor, Shalini Mahtani, founder and CEO of Community Business, expressed disappointment.

In Hong Kong, 53.3 percent of university students are female. Women constitute 47.1 percent of the workforce and domestic helpers are readily available to alleviate housework burdens, she pointed out.

"It's (Hong Kong's standing) comparable to the international standard, but not enough," she argued.

The findings were released in the report entitled Women on Boards: Hang Seng Index 2009, which is modeled on UK's Female FTSE report.

The boardroom gender makeup of 42 companies listed on Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index (HSI) was calculated.

The report said 35.7 percent of the HSI companies have more than one female director, 33 percent have no women directors at all, and 12.7 of the new appointments made in the past year were women. Ruth Sealy, deputy director of the Cranfield's International Centre for Women Leaders, said the participation of women in the corporate board rooms is a phenomenon worth future research.

"We've looked at factors such as family connections and whether a company is inside or outside China. But they're not the reason," she said.

It's found companies with large board sizes and in the financial sector tend to have more women on board.

The top three companies in terms of ratio of woman directors are China Construction Bank (29.4 percent), Bank of China (20 percent) and Cheung Kong Holdings (19.1 percent).

What has made it difficult for women to ascend to the top notch of Hong Kong companies?

The study cited reasons including the scarcity of women among senior management, the expectation that women will give up their careers for their families, disadvantages for women in networking and the lack of recognition for the importance of having women on corporate boards.

But there are also many reasons for companies to have women at high places.

Sealy said that a diverse board of directors makes better decisions, is more innovative and takes on fewer risks.

"When all board members are from the same background, a decision just gets a nod," she said. "Women are more likely to ask awkward questions."

Jaspal Singh Bindra, CEO Asia of Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart), said companies cannot afford to ignore women simply because as a market, women represent a bigger market than China and India combined. "The employees have to reflect the consumers," he said.

(HK Edition 11/27/2009 page1)