European Commission Attempts to Impose Mandatory Gender Quotas on all of EU (2015) (Source) [Archived]

The wording of the draft directive is still being negotiated, but neither the European Commission proposal nor the European Parliament proposal impose a mandatory quota.

Both propose that if fewer than 40 per cent of the non-executive directors are women (or men) the listed company must appoint non-executive directors on the basis of a comparative analysis of the qualifications of each candidate, by applying clear, gender-neutral and unambiguous criteria.

The listed company is required to give priority to the under-represented sex only if there are candidates with equal qualifications. It should make listed companies think more carefully about the criteria they apply when appointing non-executive directors. It is difficult to see why this should be objectionable.

The more important issue is the slow advance of women to senior executive positions. Here, the draft directive requires listed companies to set their own target for the representation of both sexes by 2020, with an obligation to report annually on progress (or lack of it).

Confirmed Countries

Germany (Source) [Latest occurence, Business Quotas, March 6 2015]

"BERLIN — Germany on Friday became the latest and most significant country so far to commit to improving the representation of women on corporate boards, passing a law that requires some of Europe’s biggest companies to give 30 percent of supervisory seats to women beginning next year."

"[...] In passing the law, Germany joined a trend in Europe to accomplish what has not happened organically, or through general pressure: to legislate a much greater role for women in boardrooms."

"[...] “You have to be sparing with the word ‘historic,’ ” said Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who with a Social Democrat colleague, Family Minister Manuela Schwesig, spent months steering the law over legal and political hurdles. “But I think today we can apply it.” For Germans, he called the law “the greatest contribution to gender equality since women got the vote” in Germany in 1918."

"[...] “I cannot reiterate enough how difficult it is for women to push this issue,” said Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, a London-based expert on building gender equality in business."

Norway (Source) [Business Quotas]

"Norway's law requiring at least 40 percent of public limited company board members to be women has made the panels more professional and globally focused, the head of its largest domestic-focused investment fund said on Monday. In 2003 Norway became the first country in the world to impose a gender quota, requiring nearly 500 firms, including 175 firms listed on the Oslo bourse, to raise the proportion of women on their boards to 40 percent."

"[...] The penalty for not complying was drastic: if a company did not comply, it would be shut down. At the time the move caused an uproar in the Norwegian business community, but firms complied."

Belgium (Source) [Political Quotas]

The first Belgian quota law was introduced in 1994 and first applied for the Senate elections in 1999. It stated that no more than two thirds of the candidates on party lists could be of the same sex. In 2002, this law was adapted in the sense that candidate lists should from then on include an equal number of male and female candidates. In addition, at least one of the top two positions on the party list (only in 2003 still one of the top three) should be reserved for women.

Italy (Source) [Business Quotas]

"ROME—Italy, where fewer women work compared with most other industrialized countries, is trying to turn a page—starting in the boardroom."

"A new law requires Italian listed and state-owned companies to ensure that one-third of their board members are women by 2015. Currently, only around 6% of the total number of corporate board members in Italy are women—one of the lowest levels in Europe and a number that reflects how few women work here."

"We needed a shock to the system," said Alessia Mosca, a member of parliament for the center-left Democratic Party who co-authored the new "pink quotas" law. "The hope is that this will set off cultural change."

France [Business Quotas]

"France's parliament gave final approval on Thursday to a law forcing large companies to reserve at least 40 percent of their boardroom positions for women within six years." (Soure)

"This new law strives for parity in management and corporate governance and intends to accelerate the feminization of these positions. It confirms the application of the Zimmermann Cope law (2011) which requires companies quoted on the stock exchange making at least 50 million euros in turnover and employing more than 500 workers to have 40% of women directors on their boards by 2017" (Source)

India (Source) [Business Quotas]

"[...] Additionally, the board of directors of a listed company should have at least one female director."

Netherlands (Source) [Business Quotas]

" 30% quota for women as well as for men. On 1 January 2013 new legislation came into force in the Netherlands, in order to improve the underrepresentation of women on company boards. Companies have to strive to have at least 30% of the seats in their executive board and in their supervisory board held by women, and at least 30% of the seats by men."

Brazil (Source) [Political Quotas]

"Quotas exist only in politics: By law, 30 percent of all candidates in mayoral, gubernatorial and parliamentary elections must be women."

The Reason for Gender Quotas

1) "One reason is a growing impatience with the glacial pace of voluntary change: women are the majority of all graduates almost everywhere in the developed world, but make up a smaller share of the workforce the further up the corporate ladder they go." (Source) [Gender Wage Gap Narrative Myth]

2) " Part of the reason for this prolonged stagnancy is because much of the discrimination that impedes the hiring of female board members is subconscious. While employers may not actively seek to exclude women, factors such as perceived family and child-rearing responsibilities lead to deep-seated stereotypes suggesting women are not be able to take on corporate leadership roles. " (Source)

3) “There is still a pay gap between men and women, and the new standard can become a powerful tool to achieve equal pay for equal work, and I hope and expect that a large proportion of our 2,000 member businesses will want to get the certification,” says Thorsteinn Víglundsson. [...] We also need far more women in leadership positions, and there are no quotas for that. " (Source) [Gender Wage Gap Narrative Myth]

4) "The downside is that once [women leave] the workforce it is difficult to re-enter at the same or even higher levels. This means that there is a smaller pool of women to rise up the ranks to the [executive] level and then board roles. There are fewer role models for young women starting in corporate life, or [for] women who are within the corporate structure." (Source)

Gender Wage Gap Narrative Debunked Video [Mandatory]

The gender wage gap is true, but the narrative of it being due to female oppression is false.

Do Women Earn Less? (Length = 4min, High quality, unbiased)

  • "Like other myths, this does have a kernel of truth to it. So for example, if you add up all the incomes of women and divide by the number of women in the labor force and then do the same thing for men, what you'll find is, on average, women do make about 75% of what men do. What's happening is not discrimination in the labor market, but differences in the choices that men and women make (about investing in their knowledge, their education, their skills, and their job experiences) that led to them getting paid different salaries."