Having women directors won't cure all corporate ills

Mr Cheng Shoong Tat (Let shareholders decide on diversity in boardrooms, Sept 26) and Mr Woon Wee Min (Focus on workplace, not boardroom diversity, Sept 28) made relevant and logical points.

I am not against women being board directors if they have the prerequisites and are willing to serve as directors.

What I find incomprehensible and rather high-handed is the obsession to get women on the board, to the point of mandating a 20 per cent quota by 2020, and the setting up of the Council for Board Diversity.

At the annual general meeting of a large public-listed company in 2009, a woman shareholder questioned the then chairman on the absence of women directors on its board.

The chairman saw it appropriate to oblige and expeditiously appointed the first woman board director in 2010.

Since then, two more women were appointed, in 2012 and 2014.

From 2010 to date, the company's share price declined by 50 per cent.

Of course, the women directors should not be blamed for this as a company's performance depends on many factors, such as the state of the economy, structural changes of the industry, competition, entry of new players, quality and vision of the leadership, and so on.

At the same time, it does not lend credence to the popular but somewhat naive belief that women directors will help to improve a company's performance, among others.

It is possible that women can enrich discussion, views and decisions so as to render them more holistic and robust. But they are not a panacea for all corporate ills, as some will have us believe.

Therefore, in appointing women to the boards of companies, we must ensure that it is done for the right reasons and not because of gender diversity and perceived equal rights of women.

Most importantly, this issue must not be politicised.