Women being appointed to company boards for wrong reasons, says management guru

Women directors appointed to private company boards might be appointed "for the wrong reason" or for "reasons of convenience", the president of the Malta Institute of Management has claimed.

Reuben Buttigieg was commenting on a proposal by the European Commission to have a mandatory quota of women appointed to the boards of publicly listed companies.

In his statement, Buttigieg suggested that there was a need for "better diligence" in the appointment of directors, but he poured cold water over the quality of women directors in private companies.

"Many women are appointed directors for reasons of convenience. The circumstances of certain cases are far from convincing. As things are, an illiterate person may end up a director, even if the person concerned is not able to understand the responsibilities she or he must shoulder," Buttigieg claimed.

While the presence of women on company boards in Malta is on the increase, there was still a lot to be done in order to give women even more opportunities, Buttigieg said. But he admitted that men were better advantaged to reach such posts in public companies through "better networking power over women".

"What is surely a problem is the selection process. In the case of public companies, people are generally nominated by the shareholders. Men work a lot on lobbying in this context, but women not so much. This calls for more networking by women," Buttigieg said.

"Successful women in Malta, who are experts in networking and are reaping the benefits of such networking, can surely contribute a lot towards providing the necessary education and persuasion, including regarding male attitudes."

Buttigieg also called for a culture change in favour of greater gender equality, that starts from the younger generations in schools.

"There should not be any room, for instance, for textbooks where the role of a man is directly or indirectly presented as more important than that of a woman. Textbooks should show man and woman on equal footing. Moreover, as regards girls' schools, entrepreneurship should be one of the most important subjects. Regrettably, to date such a step forward is still awaited."

Buttigieg called on political parties and the media to promote women leadership, and give much better attention to female participation in leading roles and their success stories.