Private-sector companies were excluding a talented sector of the economy who thought differently, were risk aware, offered collaborative leadership and represented those who made 80% of consumer choices, she said.
"What we've got is talent and skills going to waste," Ms Gleisner said in Dunedin this week.
Ms Gleisner said women often left university with superior grades and qualifications to men, but were overlooked for directorship roles.
When making appointments to private-sector companies, chairmen tended to choose people they knew and who were similar to them, Ms Gleisner said, and that excluded women who were not as visible or did not have as long a commercial history as men.
It was a problem identified by the New Zealand Institute of Directors, Business New Zealand and her department, which were jointly working on ways to address it.
Ms Gleisner said the bodies were talking to women about why they should seek positions on boards, making boards realise diversity was important, and encouraging women to think about a career in governance and network with people to become visible.
Part of the problem was relatively few women held senior management positions as chief executives or chief financial officers - historically a criterion required of prospective board members - but Ms Gleisner said there was also evidence women were not confident in pushing their case.
"There is a demand problem. Current boards need to demand greater diversity and then go out and seek women. There is also a supply problem, which is women need to develop capability, belief and confidence in those capabilities and make themselves more visible."
Society also needed to change and allow men to have more flexibility in their careers, to share child-rearing duties so they spent more time with their families, but also to allow women to continue with their careers.
On board
- 45 women hold 54 directorships out of 624 positions in New Zealand's top 100 companies.
- Just 8.6% of private-sector company directors in New Zealand are women.
- 11.8% of FTSE company directors in the UK are women.
- 14.8% of Fortune 500 company directors in the US are women.
Source: Ministry of Women's Affairs, Business NZ and NZ Institute of Directors.
