Financial gender equality climbs as women gain on board representation

A record number of women appointed to ASX200 boards has helped the Financy Women’s Index (FWX) gain 0.5 per cent during the March quarter, reaching its highest reading since June 2024 of 77.92 points.

The index, which tracks Australia’s progress towards financial gender equality through a variety of sub-indices, saw significant improvements in ASX200 board representation and employment.

The FWX ASX 200 Leadership sub-index surged to 76.8 points after the number of women on ASX200 boards increased to 38.4 per cent, while the FWX Employment sub-index jumped to 74.4 points after female employment growth (+0.2) surpassed males (-1.0) during the March quarter.

“These results show that Australia is on track to reach equality on ASX 200 boards by 2030 – a historic milestone for gender equality as one of the first widely campaigned and actioned areas closes in on parity,” Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, Founder of Financy, said.

Despite gender equality on ASX200 boards now expected to be only 4.9 years – the only sub-index to hit under five years of progress remaining – the gender pay gap sub-index has still held firm at 88.1 points as the overall gap remains at 11.9 per cent. Data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) also showed a significant pay discrepancy between the public (6.4 per cent) and private (21.1 per cent) sectors.

“You don’t need to be a Chief Financial Officer to speak the language of money – but you do need to speak it to shape the decisions that matter both in your personal life and beyond,” NGS Super CEO, Natalie Previtera, said.

“Financial fluency is often the unspoken language of power. And when access to that fluency isn’t equal – through education, encouragement or opportunity – influence isn’t equal either. But this isn’t just a leadership issue – it’s a life issue. From pay to super to investment, financial fluency shapes the choices women can make at every stage.”

Financy also collaborated with the University of South Australia’s Centre for Workplace Excellence (CWeX) to perform further analysis of the index data.

“I’m pleased to see a significant improvement in gender equity in corporate boards. Research has shown that more women in leadership roles is pivotal in promoting gender equity in the corporate world through influencing corporate culture and the trickle-down effect,” CWeX researcher, Dr Xin Deng, said.

“I’m more cautious about the improvement in the employment figure in favour of women. On one hand, the improvement is consistent with the significant expansion of the care economy where women account for a much higher proportion of the jobs.

“While this is a good thing for women, we know that women tend to work in the relatively low-paying jobs in these industries. On the other hand, those numbers tend to fluctuate on a quarterly basis.”