Women in the Boardroom: A Reappraisal

The purpose of this article is to explore the economic logic of the market in relation to the gender composition of Australian boardrooms. It argues that the benefits that could flow from more women occupying senior positions in Australian corporations will not overcome the laws of the market and the inherent competitive pressures that determine the trajectory of corporations. Placing more women on corporate boards must be supported as a matter of equity. However, it is unlikely that such a democratisation of corporations will impact on the internal structures that foster the broader inequality that is the taproot of the system and constitutes the day to day relationships of business.