Board diversity has been a hot topic for several years. However, it is only in
recent years that pertinent questions have been asked about what is actually
meant by board diversity and what would constitute a board with an ideal
diversity. In the past the debate on board diversity has always been dominated
by the lack, or very low numbers, of females on boards. This has been a fact in
most countries with sophisticated corporate law and corporate governance
systems in place. The issue of female representation on boards still dominates
the board diversity debate, but other forms of diversity, including age,
cultural, nationality and race have also become part of the debate. The quest
is to find answers to questions like whether a diversified board would be
better, and whether diversified boards will ensure a better return for
investors; in other words, whether there is a ‘business case’ to be made out to
have diversity on a board. Many studies have been done, but the answer is
still evasive. This is not totally unexpected as the criteria used for these
studies differ and the circumstances and complexities of business are such that
a final conclusion will probably never be reached. In this article we focus on
the board diversity debate in Europe, Australia and South Africa – three
completely different parts of the world. In addition we devote Part V to put the
topic of board diversity in a broader context, but paying particular attention
to gender diversity