Eight countries in Europe have better representation than the United States when it comes to women on corporate boards.
The U.S can claim a figure of 19.2%, but while there’s a wide gap in European representation: from a low of 7.9% in Portugal to a high of 35.5% in Norway, it is clear that gender quotas and targets for women in the boardroom are making progress.
European approaches include the voluntary targets favoured by the UK, the forthcoming new quota legislation for women on corporate boards in Germany (starting in 2016), and existing legislation in nine European countries, including Norway (mandating 40% women), France (40%) and Spain (40%).
Women’s share of board seats ranges from 35.5% in Norway (OBX index) to 22.8% in the UK (FTSE 100 index) to 18.5% in Germany (DAX index) to 7.9% in Portugal (PSI-20 index).
The global picture on gender diversity comes to life as Catalyst, the global non-profit NGO working to advance women into leadership, releases its first global census on women’s share of board seats in stock market index companies across three regions and 20 countries. It includes the US, Canada, Europe (14 countries), and Asia-Pacific - Australia, Hong Kong, India, and Japan.
Where there is no quota system - as in Japan - women are absent from corporate boardrooms, representing just 3.1% of seats in the Topix Core 30 index.
“We have evidence and optimism that closing the gender gap on corporate boards is possible, yet the current numbers are simply not good enough,” says Deborah Gillis, President & CEO, Catalyst. “Companies that are not making diversity on boards a priority should be embarrassed. Smart leaders know that they can either lead the movement toward making profound and lasting impact, or be left behind. The way of the past is not the way of the future.”
The 'way of the future' perhaps includes the example of Germany, which last year backed quotas requiring 30% of non-executive directors on the boards of its largest companies to be women from 2016. Currently, women account for 18.5% of board positions at DAX companies.
As the debate about gender representation in the boardroom continues, there is a younger generation growing up and into the workforce that watches, wonders what it's all about and is asking; 'when did women become a minority in need of special targets to achieve equality'?
In the UK, the initiative launched four years ago to get more women in the boardroom was initially assumed to be a problem of supply, rather than demand. Despite endless discussions around the 'lack of talent available', women were found for boardroom positions and appointments were made - following a laborious use of 'carrot and stick' tactics.
In those four years, the debate has evolved beyond demand and supply and moved to one of culture change. Part of a longer-term and ongoing problem around gender- and social and ethnic - diversity in positions of power is also about aspiration, and schooling the talent from a young age. The 30% Club - which launched in 2010 in the UK with a goal of 30% women on boards by the end of 2015 - has a new initiative.
Launched in partnership with Speakers for Schools, it held a debate yesterday on the theme of “Equality Across the Board” as the start of a campaign to encourage the ambitions and talent of young girls as the next generation of female leaders.
