WOMEN ON BOARDS

Women on Boards (WOB) is a thriving network founded by Claire Braund and Ruth Medd, in Australia in 2006 and in the UK in 2012, to improve gender balance on boards and in leadership roles.

Through practical action, advocacy and a willingness to do the hard work to achieve gender balance across all boards in all sectors, WOB has changed the landscape for many thousands of women across Australia.

Key to its success are its values of inclusion, transparency and courage. The WOB ‘league of extraordinary women’ are ambitious and influential, as well as generous and supportive. The principle of reciprocity is alive and well in the WOB network and evidenced in the success of so many of its members over the years. WOB extends a warm welcome to anyone to join, however the focus remains firmly on women.

WOB’s vision Gender balance and cultural diversity within board and leadership roles.

WOB’s mission To support women on their board and leadership journey.

What WOB does Inspires and equips women to apply for and achieve board and leadership roles through workshops, events and programmes, a curated vacancy board and personal support.

Since 2009, WOB’s vision has been to increase the number of women on boards and in leadership roles to achieve a gender balance of 40:40:20 – 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent of either or other genders. The group welcomes the fact that many other advocacy groups have since adopted its founding vision.

In 2020, the WOB cultural diversity committee was established to address barriers to opportunity and access to leadership and board and committee roles for culturally diverse and Indigenous women in Australia. The committee’s longterm ambition is to see greater representation of Australia’s culturally diverse population and Indigenous people on boards.

The idea to create a WOB movement gained traction after the success of female athletes in the 2000 Olympic Games. It was originally auspiced by the National Foundation for Australian Women, before being officially founded by Claire Braund and Ruth Medd in 2006. WOB launched in the UK in 2012.

WOB is inclusive and welcoming, supporting all women on their board and leadership journeys, and celebrating their success. Membership is therefore open to all. It is free to register as a basic member, with a fee to join as a full member.

Advantages of membership include:

• Access to full details of all board and committee positions on the vacancy board.
• Support when applying for board roles.
• Access to WOBShare, a member-only online community.
• Up to 30 per cent discount on WOB events and workshops.
• Access to free member-only events, such as WOBChat.
• Information and resources to assist and motivate members.

WOB has the following corporate members in 2023:

• BDO Australia
• Clayton Utz
• Computershare
• CPA Australia
• GrainCorp
• Grant Thornton
• Holding Redlich
• McGrathNicol

WOB delivers workshop and events that support women on their board and leadership journeys. Delivery is a mix of virtual workshops and face-to-face or on-demand self-paced online learning.

WOB offers a personal career management programme, full-service mentoring and a special director-led peer-to-peer support programme to accelerate women into ASX board roles.

• Sheena Wilson, chair
• Claire Braund, executive director
• Mary Sue Rogers, nonexecutive director
• Nicole Donegan, nonexecutive director

+61 2 4321 0100
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www.womenonboards.net