The Absence of Women in Mexican Boards of Directors

3 min readNov 21, 2020

March 10th, 2020

The turmoil and heavy falls in asset values in global financial markets naturally raises the question of what companies should do in such a complex environment. Given that the concerns are global and hard to quantify at this moment, we recommend a cautious approach for now. Specifically, we suggest, 1) Use appropriate opportunities to underline the financial health of the business, in the event there are specific investor concerns, or there is good news to report. 2) Avoid commentating in writing on negative changes to the operating outlook, until there is further clarity on the macro and this becomes necessary. 3) Delay communicating anything non-essential that detracts from the message of financial stability and prudence. 4) As hard as it is, stress business as usual, and be very responsive on the phone or video.

While investors will be focused on macro events, this week we look at Mexican boards.

Attached is an Excel file with a list of board members by name for each of the 35 IPC companies and percentage of women on the board for each company (as well as other useful information such as percentage of independent board members). This is proprietary Miranda-IR research, with information culled from the websites of the 35 leading IPC companies.

Main findings were:

Averages

Average Number of Board Members of companies in the IPC: 13
Percentage of Women Board Members in the IPC is 8.4%
Number of Companies with 0 Women Board Members: 12
These are: Alfa, Grupo Mexico, Televisa (!), Alpek, Elektra, Grupo Carso, Coca Cola Femsa, ASUR, Gruma, Cuervo, Peñoles and Megacable Holdings.
In other words, a full one third of Mexican IPC Companies have no female board members.
Walmex and Santander have the highest percentage of women on the board = 36%.

In short, Mexican companies have a lot to do to raise women board representation. This is not just about complying with ESG obligations, although not having women on your board will penalize you in that regard, and keep some ESG money away from your company. Nor is it just that Mexico’s Congress is said to be considering mandating women representation on boards of public companies, so this may become a legal requirement soon, and it’s better to be prepared. Most importantly, its highly likely that having women on a board will improve decision-making in a company by offering new perspectives, a diverse point of view, with such members becoming role models for women in the lower ranks, and thereby motiving much of the workforce.

Main findings from online non-Miranda research. (The numbers may differ from ours, but our research is straight from the websites):

Women make up 7.2% of total board members of all companies in the broad Mexbol Index
The Women on Boards Mexico is an organization that campaigns for more female board members. Their goal is to have at least 1 woman on the board in every public Mexican company by 2025 and 3 on each by 2030
According to EGADE, in Mexico, only 25% of management positions are held by women. More women being part of the C suite has led to better conditions for paternity leave, flexible hours or home office
In 2017 the percentage of women on boards of directors in Mexico showed an improvement of just 3 percent in two years

Sources:

Title: ‘Here by Yourself’ Women Struggle for Room in Corporate Mexico

Author: Justin Villamil & Cyntia Aurora Barrera Diaz

Date: 08/03/2019. Source: Bloomberg

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-08/-here-by-yourself-women-struggle-for-room-in-corporate-mexico

Title: Impulsan la participación de mujeres en Consejos de Administración

Author: Gerardo Hernández

Date: 02/2019. Source: Factor Capital Humano

Link: https://factorcapitalhumano.com/mundo-del-trabajo/impulsan-la-participacion-de-mujeres-en-consejos-de-administracion/2019/02/

Title: El camino de las mujeres al Consejo de Administración

Author: Isabel Rojo

Date: 04/06/2019. Source: Dalia Empower