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Issue No. LXXV, March 26, 2010 LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT AT THE 2010 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF
WOMEN
THIS ISSUE'S FEATURES: I. WOMEN BOARD DIRECTORS OF THE WORLD’S 200 LARGEST COMPANIES: CWDI 2010 REPORT II. THE QUOTA TSUNAMI SWEEPING EUROPE III. INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY QUOTA FOR WOMEN IV. SAUDI WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE |
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I. WOMEN BOARD DIRECTORS OF THE WORLD’S 200 LARGEST COMPANIES: CWDI 2010 REPORT In its third report (released March 26, 2010) on women serving on the boards of the world’s largest companies as ranked by Fortune Magazine in 2009, Corporate Women Directors International found that post-economic crisis, not much has changed. Only 12.2% of corporate board seats in the Fortune listing are held by women – a mere 1% increase from 2007. The percentage of companies with women directors at 77.5% also remained the same. What has changed is that 104 companies have two or more women on their boards making companies with a single female director a minority for the first time. Clearly, appointing one woman director makes it easier to add another to a corporate board. In its Top Ten ranking of companies with the highest percentage of women directors, CWDI found Norway’s Statoil and the U.S.’ Kraft Foods Corporation tied for first place with 40% female representation on their respective boards. There are only five companies in the Fortune Global 200 listing with women CEOs. All five (Archer Daniels Midland, Kraft, Pepsico, Sunoco and Wellpoint) are listed in the Top Ten and are American companies. “This answers the question as to what happens when women are in charge,” states Irene Natividad, Chair of Corporate Women Directors International. The U.S., in general, remains the pacesetter in appointing women to board seats with 19.5% of board seats held by women from the 61 American companies that were included in the Fortune ranking. Asian companies form the majority of those with not a single woman on their corporate boards (29 out of 45). The one exception is China, whose percentage of women directors among the 11 companies ranked by Fortune came to 10.8%, slightly ahead of the U.K. at 10.6%. China also had one company in the Top Ten listing for the first time, China Construction Bank, which had five women directors among its 17 directors. (For more on the report, click here.)
II. THE QUOTA TSUNAMI SWEEPING EUROPE As the recent CWDI report underscores, the rise of women to corporate board seats has proceeded at a glacial pace. To accelerate women’s progress inside the corporate board room, European countries are enacting quotas. This initiative is based on Norway’s highly successful legislative effort that mandated 40% of board seats be held by women within a three-year period preceding the law’s passage. Companies complied and Norway now stands as the gold standard in this effort. Spain followed with a similar mandate of 40%, albeit within an 8-year period and without punitive measures. The numbers of Spanish women directors are increasing, but not fast enough to meet this percentage by the deadline. Earlier this year, the National Assembly of France passed a 40% quota for corporate board seats to be held by women and the Senate is likely to pass it as well. The Netherlands also passed a similar law recently, with a quota of 30% female board member representation, but with expanded coverage to senior executive positions at 30% female representation in its listed companies. This is the first quota law that reaches down to the management level, resulting in a pipeline for future directors. Switzerland and the U.K. are among others contemplating legislative initiatives as well. Leaders behind board diversity met each other for the first time at a joint CWDI/IFC (International Finance Corporation) Global Roundtable on Board Diversity on March 26th in Washington, D.C. The goal of this forum was to inform each other and learn from each initiative and 40 leaders from 15 countries were represented, including the current Norwegian Minister for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion, Audun Lysbakken. He informed the attendees that Norway’s quota law was propelled by three different governments (rather than women’s groups) that ranged from conservative to liberal. He added that the quota law was the extension of the government’s role in ensuring that a welfare state provides a level playing field for women and men in Norway. III. INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY QUOTA FOR WOMEN The Upper House of India’s Parliament for the first time passed legislation, which requires that one third of parliamentary seats must be set aside for women. “This is a momentous development in the long journey of empowering our women,” stated India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This law ends six decades of male-dominated decision-making in the largest democracy in the world. Prime Minister Singh added that the new quotas will be “living proof that the heart of Indian democracy is sound and is in the right place.” In the World Economic Forum’s 2009 gender report, India ranked 114th out of 134 countries. Advocates of the bill state that increased women’s representation in Parliament will ensure that issues affecting women will receive a higher priority than in years past. “Issues like female infanticide will no longer be seen as a soft subject, but will become the core of the nation’s political agenda,” states Brinda Karat, a member of the Communist Party of India, during debate in the Upper House. It should be noted that there are already set-asides in Parliamentary seats for lower castes and tribes, so the addition of set-asides for women follows in this tradition. Currently, several countries have quotas for parliamentary seats ranging from France to Argentina to Bangladesh. (Source: “Global Development Briefing: Women in Power,” from devex.com.) IV. SAUDI WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE For the first time, a woman was elected Deputy Chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce – Lama al-Sulaiman, a 43-year-old Saudi businesswoman. In a country where women form only 15% of the workforce, this election was historic as she became the first woman to hold such a post. Last year, King Abdullah appointed the first woman minister, U.S.-educated Norah bint Abdullah al-Fayez to be Vice Minister of Education. With women forming 60% of college graduates in Saudi Arabia, the king is pushing to raise women’s employment in an effort to help diversify the economy. “By including more women in the labor force, you increase productivity and thus add jobs to the economy,” said John Stakianakis, Chief Economist of Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi. The king has also appointed 12 women advisers to the Shoura Council, a royal consultative body composed of 150 male advisers. Some see the king’s actions as part of a broader drive to rein in the clerical establishment, which controls the educational and legal system in the country. In addition to setting up more commercial courts outside of the existing judiciary which follows Sharia law, the king has also established a five-year plan to increase science and technology skills in his country. (Source: Daily News & Economic Review, Turkey, 3/27-28/2010.)
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