Women – 41% of all Board members in the ISEQ 20 – Spencer Stuart Ireland Board Index 2024
18th December 2024
Top Irish companies continue to make progress on gender representation in the boardroom, according to the latest annual Board Index by Spencer Stuart Ireland.
According to the 2024 Ireland Spencer Stuart Board Index, women now make up 41% of all board members in the ISEQ 20. This marks an 11% increase on last year’s figure, and a 45% increase since 2020.
The figure also tracks well internationally – in similar reports on board composition in Finland and Denmark, women make up 38% of board members, while the UK and Norway are slightly ahead, at 43% and 46% respectively.
Women are also continuing to take on more senior board positions – the fifth annual board index shows that 75% of the ISEQ 20 now have at least one woman in the top four leadership roles, with 24% of these senior roles now held by women. Commenting on the results, Managing Partner of Spencer Stuart Ireland, Ruth Curran, said:
“The latest Board Index is a positive indicator of progress towards more balanced gender representation in Ireland’s boardrooms. This year’s report shows another marked increase in the number of women on ISEQ 20 boards, and crucially, represents a fifth consecutive year of progress in this regard.
“While gender representation across all board members is trending positively, there is still room for improvement at senior board level – namely among CEOs, CFOs, Chairs and Senior Independent Directors.”
In wider diversity efforts, the latest report shows that 31% of directors on the boards surveyed are non-Irish nationals, a slight decrease on last year, due to the changed composition of the ISEQ 20. However, consistent with last year’s report, 50% of new board appointments this year were international, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to diverse board representation.
The changing composition of the ISEQ 20, as well as the removal of executive chairs from a number of boards has seen a fall in the average remuneration of board chairs. However, overall, remuneration packages have increased in the past year, with the average payout for non-executive directors (NEDs) in the ISEQ 20 increasing by 11.6%, while senior independent director (SID) roles also saw payments increase by an average of 11.7%.
Commenting on the current board landscape in Ireland, Ruth Curran, noted the significant changes to the ISEQ 20 since the first Ireland Board Index in 2020:
“This year marks the 5th annual publication of the Ireland Board Index, and in those five years, there has been significant movement in the Irish board landscape.
What is promising to see is that top Irish boards remain committed to diversifying their leadership teams to ensure greater diversity of outlook, which is critical to quality decision-making.
“It’s also positive to see continued commitment to addressing ESG at a senior level. We know that ESG considerations are now integral to companies’ overall strategies, and that’s reflected in the fact that 65% of boards now have committees dedicated to addressing ESG or sustainability. We expect this figure will continue to increase year on year due to the introduction of the EU’s new CSRD legislation.”
Pictured: Managing Partner of Spencer Stuart Ireland, Ruth Curran.
