This might just be why progress on board diversity is so slow

Many reasons have been given for why only 19 percent of corporate board directors are women -- a number that has barely budged over the last decade. There aren't enough directors retiring to make room for new ones. There aren't enough outside pressures to prompt real change. Boards can't find enough women to take new seats. But a new survey offers a potentially simpler explanation. Male directors, who occupy the vast majority of board seats, apparently don't think it's very important.

PricewaterhouseCoopers released its annual directors report, which surveyed nearly 800 corporate board members. It reveals a sharp and unsettling divide between the way the male and female directors who were queried view the issue of diversity. The numbers are striking. Just 35 percent of the male directors said diversity on the board is "very important," compared with 63 percent of the women. Eighty percent of the women surveyed said they "very much" agree that diversity leads to more effective boards, compared with just 40 percent of the men. The male directors were also less likely than women to view racial diversity as very important, and less likely to believe there were enough qualified diverse candidates for board seats.