Women's minister Julie Anne Genter says the Government wants to set an example to the private sector.

The Government has set a compulsory target that would have women make up half of the directors on all state sector boards and commmittees by 2021.

The Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter said even representation was something the Government wanted to lead by example on.

"By making sure the public sector has equal representation at the top, we hope to inspire the private sector to lift its game."

More than 2,600 appointments are made to state sector boards every year including state owned enterprises, conservation boards and community trusts.

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According to the Government's the latest stocktake of gender on state sector boards and committees, women's participation last year reached a record high of 45.7 per cent.

But the percentage of females on the NZX's top 50 boards at the end of last year was just 14 per cent. Women made up 19 per cent of executives and senior officers..

Further, a Grant Thornton survey of private and public companies in New Zealand this year showed that the number of women on senior teams had slipped from 31 per cent in 2004 to 18 per cent in 2018.

​Genter said the Government wanted to "issue a challenge" to the private sector to change their current workplace cultures and support women into leadership roles.

"Not just because that's the fair thing to do, but also because diversity helps organisations function more effectively.

"Many men I have spoken to acknowledge the importance of diversity and are becoming champions for change. These men are helping to mentor and recruit women for leadership roles. This is essential to achieving more diversity.

Genter said the Government was also looking into collecting ethnicity data, to get a better picture of ethnic representation on boards.

The NZX now requires companies on its main board to submit information about the gender make-up of its boards and senior executives.

Globally, there is a growing pressure to increase diversity at director and executive level and remedy the pay gap between genders.

Last year, half of the new independent director appointments in the United States were women and minorities.

In Britain companies employing more than 250 people must publish their unadjusted gender pay gap numbers.