‘Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception’

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Women Directors in Malta (WDM) was established in 2015 and is an active non-profit making voluntary organisation, independent of all governmental, commercial, or political groups.

Whilst WDM supports gender diversity, women are clearly under-represented at board level in Europe and in Malta. The key is equal access and equal opportunity for women and in recognising and promoting the proven performance from employing women at board level.

‘Statistics show that only 30.6 per cent of board members in the EU’s largest publicly listed companies are women and just 8.5 per cent of board chairs are held by women.’

WDM’s primary roles are to:

• Raise awareness and publicity on the benefits of appointing capable women at board level
• Provide appropriate and relevant training and support to achieve that status

Too often, advocates for gender equality have argued largely on the basis of fairness, less so about better (business) performance and results. Professor Laura D’Andrea Tyson (2016 World Economic Forum) stated “that the gender parity debate is wrongly focused on fairness”. Women, she argued, improve innovation and complex decision-making” which affect the bottom line. “We have failed to make the business case”.

There are many different types of boards, all of which need capable directors or trustees, including charity boards, Public Sector boards and committees, housing associations, education and sports bodies, health boards- all the way up to private and public companies. However, women are under-represented in all sectors which are dominated by men; they are less likely than men to be asked to join a board and many lack information or connections about how to bridge that gap.

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