ABSTRACT
The 2017 New Zealand Census of Women on Boards (WOB), originally released through the website Counting for Change, is the initiative of two researchers, Professor Judy McGregor, and Dr Rosanne Hawarden. The 2017 WOB Census focused on the New Zealand Stock Exchange which introduced a diversity reporting regime in 2013. The research null hypothesis was that the NZX diversity regime had resulted in no or minimal change to the gender gap. It was anticipated that the network structure would be unchanged even though the director turnover was expected to be high. Director networks belong to a class of networks called 'scale-free' networks. Three main principles underlie the formation of scale-free networks and can also be observed in director networks: preferential attachment or increasing attractiveness; homophily or a preference for the similar; and salience or a preference for characteristics. The 'Queen Bee' concept has had some currency in the WOB literature.
