Less than 40% of Canadian boards included women in 2016-17: StatCan

Statistics Canada says a study of more than 10,000 Canadian boards shows the majority were composed entirely of men in 2016 and 2017.

The agency says its look at public, private and government corporations shows 61.7 per cent of those companies’ boards were devoid of women in 2016 and 61.2 per cent in 2017.

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Statistics Canada says 18.1 per cent of director seats were held by women in 2017, a slight increase from 17.8 per cent in 2016.

The percentage of boards with one female director increased from 26.6 per cent in 2016 to roughly 27.7 per cent a year later.

Boards with more than one female member amounted to 11.7 per cent in 2016 and 11.1 per cent in 2017.

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The study also found that corporations operating in the utilities industry had the highest share of female directors and that the representation of women increased in all sectors except manufacturing, where the share of women directors remained stable.