At Top Companies, Only 1 in 10 Board Members Are Women - Building Gender Balanced Business

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has brought forth new data showing that, in its member countries, women held only 1 in 10 board seats at top companies in 2009. The finding comes from OECD’s new Gender Browser, an easily downloadable Excel file that can be used to compare data on various countries. Access the Gender Browser at www.oecd.org/gender/equality.

% OF WOMEN ON CORPORATE BOARDS

• Women make up less than 5% of boards in Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands
• The proportion ranges from 15-20% in France, Sweden, Finland, and the Slovak Republic
• Norway is at nearly 40%, due to quotas introduced in 2006

QUOTAS AND TARGETS

Many European countries are now introducing laws in order to create better gender balance on corporate boards.

• France, Spain, Iceland, the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium have all set targets between 20% and 40%
• The European Union is now looking to introduce legislation to increase the percentage of women on boards in EU countries

Visit OECD on the web at www.oecd.org.