And the slow pace of change might force big superannuation investors to consider voting against the boards of companies that act too slowly to address the gender imbalance.
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) says that while there has been limited improvement, in that each of the 50 biggest stock exchange-listed companies now have at least one woman on the board, the pace of progress is still slow.
"Although there has been some progress, the rate at which change is taking place is incredibly slow," ASCI president Gerard Noonan said in a statement on Thursday.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"Frankly, it is unacceptable...Surely there were more than 24 women available for appointment to board positions in the last year? It paints a very disappointing picture on the issue of board diversity overall," Mr Noonan said.
The ASCI's annual audit of board diversity of the 200 biggest Australian Securities Exchange-listed companies found 15.5 per cent of boardroom directors were women, an increase of 24 from 2012.
The ASCI advocated in 2010 that for improved gender diversity, ASX200 companies should achieve a benchmark of at least two women directors on their boards by 2014.
"If companies cannot adapt to meet the 2014 benchmark without good reason - a benchmark that really is quite a modest one - we may need to consider recommending that our members vote against re-election of incumbent boards," Mr Noonan said.
The latest audit found that 132 of the top 200 companies had either one or no women board members and that men held 1,250 board positions compared with 230 for women.
An additional 12 companies met the ACSI benchmark of at least two women on the board in 2013.
However, at this rate it would take 11 years - until 2024 rather than 2014, to achieve the ACSI benchmark for all ASX200 companies, the audit found.
If the EU directive on gender diversity was ratified for 40 per cent of women on boards by 2020, Australia would not achieve that goal until 2030 at the current pace of change.
