“We need to have strong role models”: Queensland Premier’s call for more women on boards

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is calling for more encouragement and support to increase the number of women on boards. 

At a Women on Boards event, held in Cairns on Friday, Palaszczuk said ‘a number of women’ told her they didn’t have the confidence and questioned their qualifications when considering a role on a board. 

This sentiment is echoed in research that shows women lack confidence in the workplace, specifically when applying for senior leadership roles, in part because they are statistically less likely to get a promotion when they ask for one. 

“I really want to make sure that our young women and young girls have the best opportunity in this state,” said the Premier.  

“And as the Attorney-General said, you cannot be what you cannot see and we need to have strong role models out there, in all walks of life.” 

According to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, 34.2 percent of ASX200 board members are women. 

The Premier’s comments come days after federal Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher told Future Women a majority-women Labor caucus was integral to its “gender focused” budget, handed down on Tuesday.

The Premier also welcomed the appointment of Vanessa Hudson, who will become Qantas’ Chief Executive Officer when long-serving boss Alan Joyce steps down at the end of the year. 

“She is the first ever [woman] to run this company and one of only seven women in the world to run a company like it,” said the Premier. 

Premier Palaszczuk noted two things the newspapers “noticed about her appointment”: that she’s a mother of two, and that she will earn 25 percent less than the man she replaces. 

“So there we go again, another example of women not being paid equally,” she told the room. “And I hope that Vanessa fights to get the same amount of money that Alan Joyce got.” 

The Premier is encouraging women in the state to register for leadership positions through the Queensland Register of Nominees.