THE days of widespread gender bias in the corporate world is generally considered a thing of the past, with a growing number of women rising through the ranks in both the public and private sector.
THE days of widespread gender bias in the corporate world is generally considered a thing of the past, with a growing number of women rising through the ranks in both the public and private sector.
But despite many of the gender barriers being broken down, women are still under-represented on boards and senior management in listed companies.
The 2008 Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace survey showed the percentage of female directors on ASX200 companies was 8.3 per cent, down from 8.7 per cent in the 2006 survey.
Representation of women in senior executive roles at ASX200 companies has also declined, down to 10.7 per cent from 12 per cent in 2006.
Like many women in senior management roles in male-dominated industries, Nanette Anderson, managing director of junior exploration company Jaguar Minerals, does not consider gender an issue in her career.
She believes the growing number of women moving into the resources industry, which historically has been male-dominated, is filtering through to more women in senior management and boards.
"It's taken time for women to move up the education and experience ladder, and this is the time where they now have enough experience to step into board roles," Ms Anderson said.
Chief executive of West Perth-based gas technology company Cool Energy, Jessie Inman, has managed businesses for the past 15 years, including 10 years at the helm of a manufacturing business in Indonesia employing 800 people.
"If anything it [being female] is an advantage. I think men and women like to do business together, they bring a different flair and vision to it. There are also differences in regards to the way we manage, which I think is welcome by most men."
Ms Inman believes personal choice, rather than gender barriers, is one of the key factors behind women's move into board roles.
"In the past couple of years women have a new sense of their ability in terms of, 'we don't need to do it all, we don't need to be on five boards and run a company and have a family'," she said.
"Ten years ago women felt they had to do that to get ahead, but now there's so much more equality that they don't have to do that."
Alcoa of Australia general manager corporate affairs, Paula Benson, is the organisation's most senior woman and an example of the increasing flexibility being offered in many workplaces.
With her office in Perth, Ms Benson works from Melbourne, where she lives with husband, Victorian Senator Stephen Conroy and two-year old daughter, travelling to WA once a month.
"Alcoa has been responsive to the fact that if you want to have senior women in the organisation you have to do things a bit differently sometimes," Ms Benson said.
Last year, Alcoa was one of only six WA companies out of 99 nationally to make the 2008 EOWA Employer of Choice for Women list.
The company offers 13 months paid maternity leave, with options to return to work part time, job share or work from home. This has given the organisation a 90 per cent return to work rate of women who've gone on maternity leave
But Ms Benson admits the company still has a way to go in addressing the gender imbalance in senior management roles, with about 20 per cent of managers at Alcoa being women.
"It's not where we'd like it to be, but we're not alone being a resources company, it's still a challenge," she said. "We have women in finance, procurement, human resources and corporate affairs, but there's still a lot of work to be done in engineering ranks, and I don't think Alcoa is alone in that."
While women are under-represented on public company boards, they do have better representation in other sectors.
The EOWA survey showed that women represent 38 per cent of the membership of government boards and committees, and 30 per cent of directors, council or committee members in the not-for-profit sector.
These trends are evidenced in WA, with many of the state's most powerful women holding senior positions within the public sector.
These include Premier Colin Barnett's chief of staff Deidre Willmott, Department of Industry and Resources director general Anne Nolan, GESB chief executive Michelle Dolin, and Education Minister Liz Constable.
Agency heads including Verve Energy managing director Shirley In't Veld, Water Corporation chief executive Sue Murphy, and City of Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, also rank as some of the state's most senior women.
"The mineral and resources boom made it a bit difficult, people wanted the board to have technical knowledge, and there's a small pool of experienced women in that area, which hopefully is changing," Water Corporation CEO Sue Murphy said.
"A lot of women themselves just choose a different path.
"I don't think its gender discrimination. When your kids are little and you're trying to do a whole lot of things, it does get tiring.
"And so some people are opting out, and that puts them in a position where they're not thought of for those roles. There is still a breeding ground for directors and that's the upper echelons of major organisations."
