MORE than two-thirds of public boards in Scotland are gender balanced or have majority women members, a report from the Scottish Government has revealed.
Holyrood passed the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act in 2018 with Scottish ministers required to publish a report setting out the gender balance of each board, any non-executive member vacancies, and the gender of the person who filled the position every two years.
The latest publication is the second report published by ministers, the first having been in 2021.
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Using data from the latest percentage breakdown of gender for each board, The National has ranked all 130 public boards contained in the analysis from highest to lowest.
The analysis includes health boards, transport organisations, national parks and other public bodies operating in Scotland.
Of 130 boards in total, 88 (68%) were gender balanced in favour of women, while 42 (32%) did not reach the requirements set out in the legislation.
As of December 31, 2022, 64 regulated boards (71%) met the requirements while 26 did not. For unregulated boards, 26 (53%) met the quota, while 23 did not.
The report also showed the breakdown for colleges, where 17 met the quota (63%) and Higher Education Institutes, where eight (42%) met the requirements and 11 did not.
Architecture and Design Scotland and Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd topped the list with both organisations having boards where 80% of members are women.
Food Standards Scotland, Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland (JABS), and NHS Dumfries and Galloway came closely behind with 75% female members.
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Cairngorms National Park Authority, Children's Hearings Scotland, Crown Estate Scotland, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, and NHS Boards in the Scottish Borders and Western Isles also reported high gender balance, with 71% of women on their respective boards.
However, a significant number of Scottish organisations still have not met the gender balance requirement.
And, if the authority has an odd number of board members, the quota applies as if there was one fewer member. For example, if there are nine members on a board, the gender balance would be achieved if four of those members are women.
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The Crofting Commission and Scottish Fiscal Commission came at the bottom of the list, with no women as non-executive board members.
Revenue Scotland had the next lowest percentage, 17%, followed by the Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (TACTRAN) and Quality Meat Scotland with 20% of female board members.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and Consumer Scotland reported a quarter (25%) female board members.
For education, Outer Hebrides College had the highest percentage of women board members at 83%, followed by Strathclyde University 69%, Edinburgh College 64%, and Abertay University 61%.
On the contrary, Heriot Watt University came at the bottom of the table for education with 20% female members, followed by Glasgow School of Art 25%, Rural College at 27% and West Highland College at 30%.
The report stated that the pandemic had evidently had an impact and “highlighted the damaging effects of inequality in our society”, between the initial report and latest publication, adding that it is now “critical” to advance equality throughout the public sector.
“We know that high performing boards help drive effective public bodies and continuous improvement in public services,” the report reads.
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“Diverse boards are more likely to be better able to understand their stakeholders and to benefit from fresh perspectives, new ideas, vigorous challenge and broad experience, all of which are needed as we recover from the pandemic and move forward.”
We previously told how the legislation was involved in a court case in December last year regarding the legal definition of a woman.
For Women Scotland lost a judicial review of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act, after Lady Haldane ruled that transgender women with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) can legally be defined as women.
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