(c) Reuters
I’ve just finished and submitted my regular 1000 word column to
theGlassHammer.com – this time it’s on the possibility that the EU may introduce boardroom quotas in order to increase the number of women sitting at the leadership table.
Here’s an extract from my article:
As the global economy slowly emerges into a brave new post-credit crunch world, statistics from Catalyst, McKinsey, the University of Cranfield and others indicate that the last three years have seen little change for women in business, and there is certainly still no evidence that the leaking pipeline will fix itself – so has the time now come for more direct action?
Q is for Quota
Viviane Reading, who heads up equality and equal rights in her role as the European Union’s Fundamental Rights’ Commissioner, seems to think so. She has warned that, unless more board room seats are filled by women by the end of 2011, she will use new powers under the Lisbon Treaty to impose gender quotas at the European level, meaning that privately owned British companies (and others from countries which fall under EU legislation) would be required to more than double women’s representation from the current 1 in 10 number of seats now occupied by female board members.
Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, the Commissioner hopes that her ultimatum will change both the European business culture and the gender mix and has suggested that she does not “… rule out the possibility of legislation in this area.”
Is 40% the magic number?
Similar legislation already exists elsewhere in Europe, most noticeably in Spain and Norway, who have both passed laws in recent years which require companies to apply a minimum 40% board room quota for women; additionally, the BBC reported in March 2010 that France, Italy and the Netherlands are considering similar measures. In the same article, Europe’s largest telecoms firm, Deutsche Telekom was highlighted as a rare example of an organisation which has voluntarily introduced its own quota system to make sure that 30% of its upper and middle management positions are held by women by 2015 – the first major German firm to do so.
Tags: Global, leadership, Quotas
As the debate around the use of quotas to increase the number of women on UK boards continues, so does the need to look at what’s working around the world to shift the gender diversity needle.
Why the Majority of UK Women and Businesses are Opposed to Gender Quotas
11 AugAccording to a recent survey by executive recruiters Harvey Nash, 81% of women feel that bias in the appointment process has a major impact on female representation – but two-thirds (64%) do not support legal quotas.
Instead, respondents cited education and awareness as the single biggest opportunity for improving boardroom balance (44%), followed by published targets and regular reporting (40%). Eighty-four percent of women believe they personally need to do more to achieve a higher representation on the board.
It appears from the survey, conducted of 365 male and female board level and senior executives, that the majority of women in business want to be taken seriously for their expertise and not simply be viewed as having “won” a place on the board through a mandated quota, an observation with which Charlotte Sweeney, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, EMEA at Nomura PLC agreed. She said, “Women want to be appointed into roles because they are the best person for the role, not because they are a woman.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Tags: Quotas, Surveys, theglasshammer, Women