CARM Board List (CARMBOLA) is dedicated to increasing cultural diversity on boards. According to the Board Diversity Index by the Governance Institute of Australia, the ASX 300 companies’ boards have a mere 9% cultural diversity. This figure is a stark contrast to the Australian population which is increasingly culturally diverse (About 50% according to the Census results). Improving the numbers of culturally diverse board members means we will start to see an impact on diverse representation in leadership and therefore, it is our mission to see a significant increase in CARM representation on boards.
CARMBOLA is an initiative of Allies in Colour to increase representation of CARM (Culturally and Racially Marginalised) people on Boards. We help organisations find culturally diverse candidates and provide board training and workshops to our CARM members. Organisations serious about culturally diverse representation on their boards should create a listing with us.
While our focus is on CARM representation, we welcome anyone who is not from the CARM background to apply for positions via our platform.
The Missing Piece: Cultural Diversity on Boards
Board Listing
It is no longer good enough to state you encourage culturally diverse people to apply for board roles, you also need to show that you are actively reaching out to our community to find the right person for the role.
Our niche board listing facilitates organisations and government agencies to have direct access to diverse talent via our national database of multicultural community members.
Consultancy
We partner with esteemed organisations who are experts in diversity and inclusion who can help you with advise and anti-racism training to strengthen your boards capacity to support and work with diverse talent.
Training
We partner with governance professionals to prepare our candidates for board roles.
CARM (Culturally and Racially Marginalised) Terminology
We would like to acknowledge the work of Diversity Council of Australia in coining this powerful terminology, to help us advance our cause. The following is information as found on their website.
What do we mean by ‘CARM’?
We use the term culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) to refer to people who are not white – research shows this group experiences racial marginalisation. This includes people who are Black, Brown, Asian, or any other non-white group, who face marginalisation due to their race. The term “culturally” is added because these people may also face discrimination due to their culture or background – e.g., a woman who is a Muslim migrant from South Sudan may face discrimination because of her race and her religion and cultural background.
Diversity Council Australia (V. Mapedzahama, F. Laffernis, A. Barhoum, and J. O’Leary). Culturally and racially marginalised women in leadership: A framework for (intersectional) organisational action, Diversity Council Australia, 2023.
Acknowledgement of Country
Our work is conducted on what was and always will be the land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
We acknowledge and pay our respect to the Custodians of this land, Elders, past present and emerging.
We acknowledge the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have made an important contribution to this land and community, and continue to do so.
This land is, was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.