Wests Tigers chair Marina Go has called for quotas for female directors to be introduced to ensure there is a diversity of thinking in rugby league boardrooms.
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The NRL is about to celebrate Women in League round to acknowledge the contribution of women across all levels of the game. There are almost 150,000 women and girls with a direct connection with rugby league as players, coaches, employees, volunteers or club members – but only a handful in the boardrooms at NRL level.
Go, the general manager of the Heart Bauer media brands, and Gold Coast's Rebecca Frizelle are the only female club chairs, while Canterbury's Raelene Castle is the sole female chief executive.
The issue is topical given the Australian Institute of Company Directors recently set a target of 30 per cent of board seats to be filled by women by the end of 2018, hoping ASX companies will meet it voluntarily rather than face government mandates.
"I believe in quotas because without quotas we haven't experienced any change," Go said.
"Yes, some NRL boards have women on them and we now have two chairs and one female CEO, which is fantastic. But the change is slow, there's only one female on the Commission board.
"Two should be the minimum number you have on any board. Without one, there is no diverse thinking and with one, you become the person who talks about women's issues.
"If there is two, as there is on my [Tigers] board, women's issues and all the other issues become everyone's agenda and it no longer becomes a gender agenda. The only way you can actually deliver – and I have wrestled with this over and over in my mind – the speed of change required is to have some form of quota.
"I believe inherently that we need to get to a point where it is 50 per cent representation because there is an equivalent talent pool. There is an equivalent number of really talented men and women out there, so why are the guys getting more of a chance? To me, it doesn't seem fair and it comes down to equity."
NRL CEO Dave Smith, speaking at a Women In League function last year, flagged the possibility of the NRL penalising clubs that don't appoint at least one woman director to boards as part of a plan to encourage women into management positions in rugby league. The governing body also recently appointed four females – Ruan Sims, Renae Kunst, Karyn Murphy and Tallisha Harden – to a team of community ambassadors including former players Nathan Hindmarsh and Anthony Minichiello. As the game prepares to host a series of events to mark Women in League round, the Tigers are working on initiatives of their own. The joint-venture outfit will soon launch Wests Tigers Women as a means of honouring and engaging with a fan base comprised 30 per cent of females.
Go said that, with so few women at the top echelons of rugby league management, there was a pressure to perform. Asked if there had been any resistance to her appointment based on gender, the Odyssey House director said: "There are some challenges with some of the old-school thinking, who tend to be the people who don't like change at any level where it's not just about gender.
"You can't progress a sport unless people embrace change and some of that change is gender ...
"There are so many men who fail but are given another opportunity. For me, as a woman, it's something I fight against constantly.
"I think it was Jane Caro who said 'gender equality will be realised when there is the same number of incompetent women as men'.
"Not that you want to appoint any duds, but women have to jump through so many hoops to get to the top, the ones who get there tend to be pretty good. There is a lot of pressure not to fail because we are so visible."
