Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018: statutory guidance

Raising awareness

• Public authorities should aim to raise the profile of the board, and board members, so potential applicants can understand what the board does, how members contribute and therefore why they might want to be involved.
• Public authorities can challenge perceptions of ‘traditional board members’ by featuring profiles of the current board on websites or in other materials, focusing on their diversity and the value it adds.
• Public authorities and appointing persons could encourage current board members, from under-represented groups, for example minority ethnic women, to volunteer as role models and take part in outreach and awareness raising activity.
• Appointing persons, the staff of public authorities and current board members should actively be ambassadors for the work of the board, using their networks and contacts to raise awareness.
• Public authorities and appointing persons could engage with equalities organisations to seek their expert advice on reaching underrepresented groups and understanding real and perceived barriers.

Building a pipeline

• Identify potential applicants from committees, working groups or stakeholder groups who frequently engage with the board.
• Offer opportunities to potential candidates to shadow existing board members or observe board proceedings.
• Consider as part of continuous professional development (CPD) creating opportunities for senior women to be supported to take up e.g. shadow board opportunities or have a programme of CPD release to allow them time away from work when they are successful in applying for board positions.
• Ask current board members to mentor potential candidates.
• Provide targeted networking opportunities e.g. for women candidates with existing women board members.
• Use co-option to board committees to build board experience in individuals.
• Providing training or coaching to women candidates prior to interview.
• Engage with organisations whose purpose is increasing diversity on boards e.g. Changing the Chemistry, Women on Boards.

Creating a culture

• Set up a Succession Planning Committee to keep the needs of the board under review, plan awareness raising and pipeline building activity, and offer advice to appointing persons when a vacancy arises. The Scottish Government has published succession planning guidance and a toolkit.
• Identify and address potential barriers created by the board culture, for example the timing and location of meetings, how papers are presented and how far in advance. Otherwise the diverse voices on the board may not be heard and possibly if barriers remain to their involvement they may not want to remain on the board. The UK Financial Reporting Council issued a report in July 2016 on board culture^[9] which may provide helpful.
• Identify and address barriers that might prevent access for diverse groups of women such as disabled women and minority ethnic woman. And consider the needs of women who are pregnant or have children.