On October 30, 2024, the Canadian Securities Administrators (the "CSA"), in conjunction with participating Canadian securities regulators, released the results of its 10th annual review (the "Review") of public disclosures from 574 non-venture reporting issuers (the "Issuers") related to women on boards of directors and in executive officer positions.
The Review revealed a consistent increase and upward trend of women's representation on boards and in executive office positions of non-venture reporting issuers in Canada over the last 10 years.
Key findings from the Review include:
- 29% of the Issuers' board seats were held by women in 2024, an increase from 27% in 2023 and 11% in 2015;
- 90% of the Issuers had one or more women on their board in 2024, an increase from 89% in 2023 and 49% in 2015;
- 42% of the Issuers had three or more women on their board in 2024, an increase from 36% in 2023 and 8% in 2015;
- 72% of the Issuers had one or more women in an executive officer position in 2024, an increase from 71% in 2023 and 60% in 2015;
- 5% of the Issuers had a woman CEO and 16% had a woman CFO;
- 37% of the Issuers' board vacancies were filled by women in 2024, a decrease from 43% in 2023; and
- 64% of the Issuers adopted a policy relating to the representation of women on their board, with 44% of the Issuers setting targets for the representation of women on their board and 7% setting targets for the representation of women in executive officer positions.
The CSA noted that it is continuing to explore potential changes to diversity-related disclosure requirements, as outlined in its notice and request for comment dated April 13, 2023, regarding proposed amendments to Form 58-101F1 – Corporate Governance Disclosure of National Instrument 58-101 – Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices and National Policy 58-201 – Corporate Governance Guidelines. For a summary of the proposed amendments please see our April 2023 blog post found here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
