Europe Bringing Women Into the Boardroom - Building Gender Balanced Business

MANY COUNTRIES ESTABLISHING QUOTAS

• Norway introduced quotas in 2003, requiring companies to have women in 40% of board seats by 2008
• Spain introduced quotas in 2007
• France followed suit this year

The issue is being hotly debated in The Netherlands and Germany. German justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger wants to see further change come from self-regulation, not legislation.

“A flexible solution [to quotas] will lead to success.”— Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, German justice minister

While the quota debate takes Europe by storm, things are quieter in the United States. The U.S. pushed its boardroom numbers for women up to 10-15% a decade ago, but little progress has been made since. There is hope, though, that the SEC’s 2009 rule forcing companies to explain what measures they are taking to improve board diversity will encourage them to recruit more women for top positions.

• 27 recently surveyed companies in the Dow 30 all said that they do consider diversity when looking for potential directors
• But only one of those surveyed said they actually have a policy of board diversity

“Quotas give a short-term fix and the appearance of change.”— Helen Morrissey, CEO of Newton Investment Management and founder of the 30% Club

Helen Morrissey founded the 30% Club to encourage UK companies to diversify their boardrooms on a voluntary basis. The initiative has won the support of 25 chairmen of FTSE and other big companies, who have committed to filling at least 30% of board seats with women by 2015. Morrissey concedes voluntary quotas may take more time, but argues they will be more effective, as a quota system could lead to a two-tier board where a core group of men make the decisions while the women are left out of the loop.