MEPs back quota for women on boards

Women should make up 30% of top management in the largest listed EU companies by 2015 and 40% by 2020, believe Members of the European Parliament. If voluntary measures fail to boost the number of women in senior positions, EU legislation must be used.

Women currently make up 10% of directors and only 3% of CEOs at the largest listed EU companies. As the number of women in corporate boards is currently increasing by only half a percentage point per year, it will take another fifty years before boardrooms have at least 40% women, said a non-binding resolution on Women and Business Leadership adopted by MEPs on 6 July 2011.

The Resolution might be seen to bolster the position of the European Commission, which had mooted strict quotas in the absence of voluntary measures to rebalance gender imbalance in business.

But any Commission proposals would be likely to meet with stiff resistance from national governments, which will ultimately have to agree to quotas before they come into effect – either by a large majority or unanimously, depending on the precise nature of the measures.

EUObserver, 13.7.11: Lack of women in top jobs to cause 'problems' for EU economy http://euobserver.com/9/32618

European Parliament: Press Release, 6.7.11: Women in business: Parliament calls for quotas http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/pressroom/content/20110706IPR23412/html/Women-in-business-Parliament-calls-for-quotas

European Commission: RAPID: MEMO/11/487: EU Justice Commissioner Reding welcomes the European Parliament’s strong support for more women in economic decision-making positions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/487&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

EUObserver, 7.7.11: EU parliament backs female quotas for top corporate jobs http://euobserver.com/9/32598

---