Malaysia Top 100 Plcs Have 25.8 Pct Women On Bod - 30% Club Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- Women representation on the top 100 public limited companies (PLCs) board of directors (BOD) in Malaysia currently stands at 25.8 per cent, an 82 per cent increase from 2015, 30% Club Malaysia founding chair Zarinah Anwar said. The former Securities Commission Malaysia chairman said women also occupied 17.2 per cent of total board seats on all PLCs in the country. “In 2015, women represented only 14 per cent of directors on the boards of our top 100 PLCs and only 10.7 per cent of total PLCs and it has taken us six years of effort,” she said this in her welcoming remarks at 30% Club Malaysia’s virtual panel discussion titled “MEN--WHO--PAUSE”. Zarinah said although Malaysia is the first country in the region to set a gender diversity target for PLC boards back in 2012, there are companies and PLCs which have not initiated any effort to change notwithstanding the instigation of regulators and investors. “Today, we still have 255 PLCs with all-male boards, more than one-quarter of the total companies listed, four of which are in the Top 100,” she said. During the panel discussion, the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM) director and 30% Club Malaysia mentor Ahmad Johan Mohammad Raslan said board of directors and the human resources (HR) department must work hand-in-hand to drive and push for women to step up the corporate ladder. “Women also have to seek promotion and shouldn't be pulling back all the time. Step forward in life and ask for mentorship and sponsorship so that you can be better groomed,” he said. He also said the reason for the 30 per cent setup for women executives on the board is to give a fair shot for women to break through the glass ceiling to the upper level of management. -- BERNAMA