“This small chance of reaching equality in the long run results from the fact that the number of female directorships is driven by the rate at which female directors are appointed. In the year to 28 May 2014, 31% of ASX 200 board appointments were women3. However, this is an all time high – the corresponding figures for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 are 25%, 28%, 22% and 22% respectively. Even if 50% of all new directorship appointments were women, it would still take about a decade for the board composition to get close to 50:50 because the average director tenure is about 6 years – the change takes time to work through the system. The percentage of new board appointments which are women has been very growing slowly over time. Unless this rate becomes much closer to 50% than it is at present, it is very unlikely that the ASX 200 will ever see board equality.”