BlackRock Inc. isn't buying excuses from companies that say theycan't find women to fill diverse slots on boards.

The world's biggest asset manager earlier this year sent lettersto companies in the Russell 1000 index with fewer than two women ontheir boards, asking them to explain their lack of progress. Someof the responses were surprising, said Michelle Edkins, the firm'sglobal head of stewardship.

“On board diversity, frankly, some of the answers we got werefrom the 1880s,” Edkins said Friday in an interview at the SRIConference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Among the mostfrustrating responses: “There aren't any qualified women”; “Wedon't need a woman director”; and “We're not a consumer-facingcompany.”

But BlackRock, whose research shows that more diverse boards getbetter results, sees a wide pipeline of female directors available.Edkins said the New York-based fund giant, which has five women onits 18-member board, wants companies to look for directors in moreuncommon places.

“Every man was a first-time director once,” she said. “Ifsomeone took a bet on an untrained director who happened to be aman, you can take a bet on an untrained director who happens to bea woman.”

From: Bloomberg

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