Biotech women in leadership

The Census was conducted by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency and showed that only 3.8 per cent of the ASX 500’s CEOs are female, equating to 12 CEOs. Starpharma’s Dr Jackie Fairley, Phosphagenics’ Dr Esra Ogru and Bionomics’ Dr Deborah Rathjen make up a quarter of the Index’s female CEOs.

The study also showed that the industry sector with the highest representation of key management executives who are female, is a grouping of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and life sciences. This was demonstrated for the ASX 200 with 26.1 per cent and ASX 500 companies with 22.2 per cent.

This is in contrast to only 9.2 per cent of the key management roles in ASX 500 companies that are held by women and 60.6 per cent of ASX 200 companies which have no females in key management positions.

When it comes to directorships, women hold 12.3 per cent of ASX 200 and 9.2 per cent of ASX 500 company board roles.

The Census has been conducted annually over the past decade and this year has extended to cover ASX 500, in addition to its usual census of ASX 200 companies. Go here for the full 2012 report.