Westpac CEO Gail Kelly is against mandating minimum numbers of women for company boards.

Rather, she believes that diversity and gender equality should be "a specific and targeted area of focus" for organisations.

"I'm a passionate advocate about driving diversity at work, but in my view that does not necessarily mean mandating," Kelly said in her address to the QUT Business Leaders' Forum at the Hilton, Brisbane on Monday.

"I personally think mandated positions can have unforeseen consequences and unintended and poor outcomes."

She said that the ASX's "name and shame" approach was a great way to go.

"A conscious focus, name and shame approach where boards are held to account to have to explain their performance and their track record not only at board level, but actually at senior levels is the right way to go," Kelly said.

She said that that the issue should not "start and stop at boards" though, and suggested that change should occur throughout organisations.

Thirty-six per cent of leadership positions at Westpac are currently held by women, and it is aiming to reach 40% by 2014. However, Kelly said she would not stop growing this number until it reached 50%.

"Why accept less than 50%?" she said.

She said to create this change, recruitment models, discussion forums, training programs, measures and rewards needed to be focused around gender equality.

She added that role modelling within an organisation was important, citing Westpac's 'diversity stars' - men and women within the organisation who tested ideas, confirmed diversity priorities and how to best implement them.

Although quotas and mandates for women on boards has been a hot topic in Australia for some time, demand for change is happening on a global scale. Deloitte recently reviewed the compliance approaches adopted by 14 and found:

  • In the UK, the FRC is currently considering public comments it received on the Lord Davies' report. Published in February 2011, this report made a number of recommendations for FTSE listed companies including establishing a diversity policy and measurable objectives for achieving it but stopped short at recommending gender quotas.
  • The Dutch government recently introduced a requirement that women comprise 30% of boards by 2016.
  • Norway was the first country to introduce board gender quotas in 2005. France, Italy, Belgium and Spain are either considering or have also introduced quotas.
  • In the US, the SEC approved a rule in 2009 requiring nominating committees to disclose if and how diversity is considered in identifying nominees for director.