A balance of genders is spreading out in Australian companies as women make 10 percent of board members.

According to the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), the appointment of Sam Mostyn to the board of airline company Virgin Blue brought the composition to the 10 percent level.

The latest AICD figures in 2010 show 31 appointees (27 percent) to ASX 200 boards to be women. In 2009, the numbers settled at only ten (5 percent). The figures remained at 8 percent in 2007 and 2008.

The appointment of women on ASX 200 boards began at 8.3 percent this year. AICD's John Colvin said, “"We've got an increase of 20 per cent.”

Colvin cited that “More than one-quarter of the appointments to the ASX 200 in the last eight months have been female board members.”

The AICD is likely to move for an increase in the numbers of women in company boards. “The feedback I get from the directors is that this is a matter which the boards themselves are making an issue of and focusing on,” Colvin said.

For the first eight months of 2010, more than one in four new directors are women. The figures in 2009 were one in 20.