A QUOTA for women on corporate boards was ''tokenistic'' and would be counterproductive, the Australian Institute of Company Directors said yesterday.

And Opposition Leader Tony Abbott rejected the push by Liberal frontbencher Joe Hockey for possible ''punitive measures'' to force change.

Women make up just 11.2 per cent of directors on Australia's top 200 company boards, and the issue has ignited after Governor-General Quentin Bryce, in an interview with The Age, called for quotas.

She was backed by Mr Hockey, who said that if companies failed to reach a 30 per cent target by 2015, they should face the prospect of legislated quotas. This would mean another 300 female company directors, or 60 more a year.

Mr Abbott said he supported Mr Hockey's decade-long campaign to increase the number of women in boardrooms, but was personally ''cool on quotas''.