Corporate Gender Quota II: National Level
In January 2011, the French government passed a gender quota law for corporate boards, which will become legally binding in 2017. Medium and large companies are now required to fulfill 40% women in their administrative and supervisory boards. Board decisions will still be valid for companies which do not meet the quota, but board election will be invalidated and members will not be paid for attending meetings. This hurts boards which resist gender equality, but will not penalize the companies. France now joins Norway with gender quotas on corporate boards.
Germany may soon be passing similar legislation as Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen would soon like to see legally mandated gender quotas for executive and advisory boards in Germany’s leading companies. In draft legislation to be presented this year, she will demand a gender quota of a minimum 30 percent of both genders on boards as well as sanctions for companies which do not respect the law. In an interview with the financial business paper ‘Handelsblatt’, Diversity expert Michael Stuber challenged the appropriateness of quotas, especially for general management. Based on his experience, he warns of “the high price” that quota-based progress has to pay. The British are less optimistic on the validity of gender quotas as Mervyn Davies, the head of the British government’s inquiry into gender inequality, said the UK would only consider adopting quotas as a “last resort” if better gender balance in companies is not reached through less direct measures.
Before the individual members of the European Union have a chance to make their own decisions, the Commission may require these measures as Internal Market and Services Commission Member Michel Barnier stated publicly in January 2011.. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding will state her opinion after meeting with the chiefs of European companies this spring. Women represent just one in 10 board members of the EU’s largest publicly-listed companies, even though they make up nearly half the workforce and more than half of new university graduates. “I have not been an advocate of quotas for women in senior business posts in the past, but given the lack of progress in this area, we might in the future have to consider taking initiatives at the European level,” the Commissioner said in a written statement. In his ‘Handelsblatt’ interview, Stuber calls this interpretation “purely political and interest-driven”. His analysis shows that in many areas, the Public Sector did not make more progress despite the de-facto quota in place in many countries. In any case, experts do not think that a legally binding EU-wide quota is likely to pass the complex decision-making process. Such a quota would also be difficult to design given the very different situations in the member states, the various sectors and on the many different labour markets.
