Which sectors drive the rise in women directors in SGX’s top 100 firms?

The top sector saw women’s board participation rise to 34%.

Six sectors led the rise in women directors in Singapore’s top 100 listed companies in 2023.

At the forefront is the Technology sector with women’s board participation reaching 34%, followed by Industrials (27%), Real Estate (24%), Utilities (24%), Financials (23%), Consumer Non-Cyclicals (19%).

Last year, all-male boards among SGX-listed companies dropped to 38% from 57% in 2013, whilst women’s participation on SGX-listed company boards rose to 16.1% from 8.1% in 2013.

“Although the proportion of new appointments going to women dipped from the 2022 peak of 24%, the number of new female appointees was markedly higher than the historical average of roughly one in ten. Encouragingly, 33 companies with all-male boards appointed 35 women directors in 2023,” the Council of Board Diversity reported.

In 2023, 96 board seats in 82 companies were given to women, accounting for 21% of board appointments made by all SGX-listed companies. The percentage of firms with gender-balanced boards also rose slightly to 8%.

The Council of Board Diversity attributed the improvement to the top 100 primary-listed companies, which saw women's participation on board triple to 23.7% from 7.5% in 2013.

Eleven of the top 100 companies, however, still have an all-male board. Across all SGX-listed companies, there are 240 company boards without a female member.

Meanwhile, non-top 100 companies showed slower progress, with women’s board participation reaching only 14.0%.

In addition to the rise in women directors, Singapore boards experienced growth in the proportion of independent and first-time directors.