Focus on France 2010 Womenomics 101 Released
Gender Balance at Top French Companies (Cherchez la Femme)
20-first’s 2010 Womenomics 101 Survey: Focus on France looks at the Gender Balance of the Executive Committees of the top 10 companies in France.
- At these Top 10 companies 9 out of 10 of these committees remain entirely male dominated, and do not include a single woman.
- To provide a point of comparison, in the Global 20-first 2010 Womenomics 101 Survey (October 2010), 87% of American had a least one women at Executive Committee level, while only 44% of European companies and 23% of Asian companies did.
- The only company with women on its Executive Committee is Société Générale, which catapults to the front with three women (21%), although all of them are in staff or support roles.
- Société Générale’s CEO, Frédéric Oudéa, commented, “I am absolutely convinced of the importance of having women on the highest level positions. I believe gender diversity helps drive performance throughout the company.”
Frédéric Oudéa
Chairman & CEO Société Générale
“I am absolutely convinced of the importance of having women on the highest level positions. I believe gender diversity helps drive performance throughout the company.”
- Upon closer inspection we see that among the 102 executives that make up the Executive Committee level of France’s Top 10 companies, only 3 (or 3%) are women, and all are in support functions, none in line or operational roles.
- This compares to the American average of 15% of executives at this level, and the European average of 7%. France is on par with Asia, where the average is also a meagre 3%.
- This is particularly surprising in France, where female graduates have outnumbered their male peers for many years. 60% of university graduates are female, and the école de commerce have been at parity for decades. A recent French survey of companies found that 86% of managers think that gender balance was a strategic issue.
Better Balance = Better Bottom Line
Gender balance on leadership teams has been shown to correlate to better corporate performance, better return on investment, greater innovation and more stock price resilience during crises. Could French companies perform better and more sustainably if they were more gender balanced?
The WOMENOMICS 101 Survey is run globally by 20-first, one of the world’s leading gender consultancies, www.20-first.com.
Download WOMENOMICS 101 Surveys
Other Country Reports
The other country Focus Reports that have been published to date include:
Australia, India, Italy and the Netherlands
Featured
- Can Women Truly Succeed in Your Organization
- GE Needs 21st Century Leadership
- Should Facebook Have a Woman On-Board?
- Men Starting Pink-Collar Businesses
- Key Country Research Report - Germany
- Key Country Research Report - France
- Key Country Research Report - UK
- Key Country Research Report - US
- Low Birthrate Blues
- IEDP Publishes 20-first's Global Gender Balance Scorecard
- Goldman Sachs and MetLife To Disclose Diversity Stats
20-FIRST ON THE MOVE
MAY
- Singapore
- Paris
- Marseilles
- London
- Düsseldorf
JUNE
- Copenhagen
- Milan
- Paris
- London
- Geneva
- Düsseldorf
JULY
- Chautauqua