Carolyn Hewson has been a full-time worker for more than 35 years.
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In that time she has been an economist, investment banker and director on boards such as Westpac, AMP, CSR and AGL.
Most of these roles have been in a "male dominated" environment. But she always expected that as more women stayed at school and graduated from university, "change was just a matter of time".
Ms Hewson, who is currently a director at BHP Billiton, said that for a long time she made excuses about the lack of balance in corporate and government boards.
But now, in 2015, only 20 per cent of ASX200 directors are women and less than 40 per cent of government board members are women.
"We see only slow progress ... there are no longer any valid excuses," she said.
For this reason, Ms Hewson is backing a bill proposed by a group of Senate crossbenchers that would make it compulsory for federal government boards to be at least 40 per cent female.
In 2010, Labor introduced a 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men diversity target for government boards, but according to the bill's explanatory note, this is only "aspirational".
Ms Hewson told a Senate inquiry that the government could lead and influence the corporate sector with the bill.
"Do not underestimate the important message that this legislation for balanced representation will send to corporate Australia, the civil society sector and wider Australian community," Ms Hewson said.
The bill, sponsored by independents Nick Xenophon, Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus and Greens senator Larissa Waters, would not impose penalties on non-compliant portfolios, but would seek an explanation.
Women's Leadership Institute Australia founder Carol Schwartz also backed the bill, noting that "merit" was not an objective term. But Institute of Public Affairs senior fellow Mikayla Novak said the bill would only have a "weak signalling effect" in the private sector and would not necessarily create broader gender improvements.
The bill stands a good chance of passing the Senate, with Labor saying it was "closely examining" the bill and would confirm its position after the inquiry.
But it appears doomed in the lower house, with Minister for Women Michaelia Cash saying the bill will "duplicate existing mechanisms and runs counter to the government's commitment to reduce red tape".
"The government supports appointments based on merit," Senator Cash said.
The latest figures released last week showed that the overall number of women on federal government boards has dropped slightly over the past year, with only 39.1 per cent of positions held by women.
This is down from 39.7 per cent in 2014 and 41.7 per cent in 2013.
Of the new board appointments in 2014-15, 38.4 per cent went to women, while 30.1 per cent of all chair and deputy chair roles were filled by women, another slight drop on last year's figures.
It also found that only 10 out of 18 portfolio areas met the 40 per cent target. Veterans' affairs and employment were the worst performing portfolios with women comprising less than 25 per cent of board positions.
