The Toronto Stock Exchange Broadcast Centre is shown in Toronto on June 28, 2013. A review of more than 700 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange has found that the number of women on corporate boards and in executive positions varies by industry and company size, with larger firms boasting a higher rate of female representation than their smaller counterparts.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

TORONTO - A review of more than 700 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange has found that the number of women on corporate boards and in executive positions varies by industry and company size, with larger firms boasting a higher rate of female representation than their smaller counterparts.

For example, about 60 per cent of TSX-listed companies with a market capitalization more than $2 billion reported having at least two female board members.

And 59 per cent of the reporting issuers of that size said they had at least two female executive officers.

Meanwhile, 62 per cent of the TSX-listed companies with a market capitalization below $1 billion had no women on their boards and 48 per cent said they had no women in executive positions.

Utilities and the retail sector had the highest number of women on their boards, with 57 per cent of utilities reporting two or more female directors, as did 43 per cent of retailers listed on the TSX.

That contrasted with the mining, oil and gas and technology sectors, in which 60 per cent of the TSX-listed companies said they had no female directors and half reporting zero female executive officers.

The review was conducted by securities regulators in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.

Regulators in those jurisdictions implemented rule amendments at the end of last year requiring issuers to annually disclose the number of women on their boards and in executive positions.

They were also required to provide targets for how many women should sit on boards or in executive positions and disclose their policies relating to how women are identified and nominated for such posts, among other things.

The rule changes state that if a publicly listed company chooses not to implement targets for female composition and other related policies it must explain its reasoning.

Michelle de Cordova, director of corporate engagement for fund manager NEI Investments, says she was surprised at the number of companies that reported they don't set diversity targets because they make director appointments based on merit.

"There's a lot of research pointing to this correlation between diversity on the board and the performance of companies," said de Cordova, whose company runs a socially responsible mutual fund family called Ethical Funds.

"Given that correlation argument, we would respectfully say that the companies citing this meritocracy argument don't really get it ... If there is a correlation between better diversity performance and better corporate performance, a shareholder should want there to be better diversity performance."

Nearly half — 49 per cent — of the 722 companies included in the review had at least one woman on the board, while 60 per cent had at least one woman in an executive officer position.

Of the issuers included in the review, 15 per cent said they had added at least one woman to their board this year.

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News from © The Canadian Press, 2015