South Africa, nonetheless, remains ahead of the US Fortune 500 at 15.7% female board seats, and the Canada FP 500 at 14%, while the UK FTSE 350 lags at 9.0%.

There is no doubt that the current regulatory framework has played a positive role in influencing corporate South Africa to be more equity and gender sensitive, says Burmeister.

Many countries internationally have implemented or are considering implementing legislation to enforce board quotas, but this may not be appropriate in South Africa where we already have several legislative instruments, such as black economic empowerment regulations, industry charters and the Employment Equity Act, which have similar aims.

Global progress on gender equity should be way ahead of South Africa given the large pool of experienced female candidates available. Internationally, gender issues have been on the table for a long time. Instead by comparison we have made massive shifts over the past 10 years.

Countries that have implemented gender regulations have not necessarily seen a

sharp hike in women on boards. Finland, Sweden and Spain have show mixed results. Norway, which implemented a rigid quota system in 2003, has achieved success, virtually reaching its target of 40% female board membership In South Africa,

Burmeister believes the change in corporate governance regulations is the perfect time to make a shift towards gender equity, as boards seek for new talent to replace retiring board members. However, she says, the pool of candidates available for board positions is just the starting point; you can move only as fast as your pipeline allows.

Accelerated development of high-potential board talent is essential for organisational sustainability and to support the appointment of independentnon-executive directors in compliance with more stringent corporate governance requirements.

Developing board talent takes time and, like developing executive talent, needs to be done consistently. This requires a focused and on-going succession plan to identify and develop board members with high potential.

Note: All dates above refer to the calendar year in which the data was gathered.