With decades of experience serving on boards of companies and organizations, Halifax economist Elizabeth Beale (MA’78) has been able to observe changes in the style and makeup of corporate leadership over the years.

Today, Beale says that companies across Canada are improving the gender balance of their boards. She believes that companies are doing so not only for reporting purposes, but also to strategically benefit their companies in the long term.

The rules for reporting recently changed for public companies in Nova Scotia and in most other provinces, requiring the companies to disclose the number of females on their boards and executives as well as the existence of any gender diversity policies.

According to a December 2015 report by the Canadian Diversity Council, the proportion of females on corporate boards has increased to 19.5 per cent since these rules were adopted in late 2014, when the level was 17.1 per cent.

Heidi Schedler (LLB’01), senior enforcement counsel for the Nova Scotia Securities Commission, clarifies that while the Commission’s mandate is not specifically to increase the proportion of females on corporate boards, such an impact would be seen positively.

Michael Donovan (BA’74, LLB’77, LLD’04), co-founder and chairman of DHX Media Ltd., explains that his company has made it a priority to increase the gender diversity of their board in the past three years. The company counts Elizabeth Beale among the females added to its board.

Beale earned her Master’s degree in economics at Dalhousie in 1978 and served as the head of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC) for 18 years.

Read more in “Gender diversity in the boardroom” on thechronicleherald.ca.

Photo credit: The Chronicle Herald Staff (Ingrid Bulmer)