Members of European Parliament are pushing a proposal to force listed companies to improve gender balance in their boardrooms through mandatory quotas backed by sanctions.
A directive to improve gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges is being studied in two committees, the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. The co-rapporteurs released a report this week highlighting the need for a common strategy to boost the ranks of women in non-executive board positions to 40 percent by 2018 or 2020. The earlier deadline applies to companies that are in part or in whole public undertakings. That goal would be backed by the possibility of sanctions for companies failing to meet the expectations, including the specter of losing out on government contracts. Listed companies also would be tasked with setting their own targets for boosting gender balance among executive directors.
