Ontario's minister responsible for women's issues, Laurel Broten, recently revealed that the government is working with the Ontario Securities Commission on requiring companies to set targets for women on boards of directors and in senior management.

The province, The Globe reported, will seek to implement a "comply or explain strategy," whereby companies "must either publicly disclose a diversity policy, including goals, and provide a public annual assessment of progress, or explain why they have set no goals."

This is not the first time that a government has attempted to even out the gender imbalance in Canada's board rooms; federal minister for the status of women, Rona Ambrose, recently appointed a 23-member committee to study how to get more women into the boardroom.

And there is currently a bill, S-203, before the Senate that would require most corporations to "ensure that the proportion of directors of each sex on their board of directors is not less than 40 per cent." Of the country's 10 biggest companies (ranked by profits), none have hit the 40 per cent mark, and one has female representation lower than 10 per cent. Here, browse Canada's 10 biggest corporations to see the gender breakdown of their boards.