25% of board directors at top SGX-listed firms now women

A quarter of board directors for the top 100 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange are now women, crossing the 25 per cent mark ahead of 2025, according to mid-year data from the Council for Board Diversity (CBD).

- Sharon Salim

As at June 30, 2024, women's participation on boards has tripled from 7.5 per cent in 2013 to 25.3 per cent, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong in his keynote address at the council's breakfast forum, Leadership-in-Action, on Oct 28.

The "25 per cent by 2025" target had been set in 2019 to encourage board gender diversity.

Notably over the past five years, women board representation at statutory boards has increased to 34.2 per cent, up from 23.3 per cent, while that at the top 100 institutions of a public character rose to 31.5 per cent, up from 27.6 per cent.

"We've not only moved forward but have gone much, much further," said Ms Mildred Tan, co-chairwoman for the CBD and board chairwoman of the Tote Board, at the forum. Some 120 board directors representing over 150 organisations attended the event.

Ms Tan noted that these are interim results, and that the final tally will be released at the end of 2024. CBD said on its website that the next target is achieving 30 per cent of women board representation by 2030.