Women held 29.8 per cent of board seats in Canada in 2024, up 1.3 percentage points from the year before, according to a study from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP that looked at boards of 610 companies. That growth is down from the 2.1 percentage point annual increase from 2015 to 2023. There was no change in representation of other diverse groups on boards. (The Logic)

Talking point: The slowdown in momentum comes in large part from women filling fewer new and vacant board positions. Women filled 45.3 per cent of empty board seats in 2023 but just 40.4 per cent this year. “On a positive note,” wrote Osler partner Joanna Cameron in a statement, “representation of visible minorities among executive officers did increase, reflecting a continued focus on the executive pipeline.” That gain was slight, to about one person who identified as a visible minority per executive team in 2024, up from 0.88 in 2023.