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Issue No. LXXXV, June 10, 2011
Special Edition: Gender Diversity on
Corporate Boards I. WOMEN AND STOCK
EXCHANGES |
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I. WOMEN AND STOCK EXCHANGES
Istanbul Stock Exchange Chairman welcomes CWDI CWDI Chair Irene Natividad (in blue) is joined by 160 Chair Irene Natividad (in pink) at May 4, 2011 Market Spanish women business leaders as she "rings Open. the bell " at Madrid Stock Exchange. (Photo courtesy of El Pais, 2/11/11) To kick off the 2011 Global Summit of Women in Turkey, the First Lady of Malaysia, Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah, joined Summit President Irene Natividad in opening the Istanbul Stock Exchange on May 4th, 2011 along with 160 women business leaders from different parts of the world. The Chairman of the Stock Exchange pointed out that half of the traders on the floor in this facility are women – a rare occurrence in similar exchanges worldwide. This is the
fifth Market Open initiated by Corporate Women Directors
International – the ‘arm’ of the Global |
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II. NEW QUOTAS FOR WOMEN
DIRECTORS Belgium and the Netherlands are poised to
join Norway, Spain, Iceland, and France in requiring that 30% of
corporate board seats should be allocated for women. The quota law in
The Dutch quota law is unique in that it requires 30% representation of
women both on the management board and the supervisory board. No other country quota
to date includes mandates for women in senior management as well as
the board of directors.
The stated goal of the quota is for “well-balanced
participation of men and women” in these boards, so there is a
provision that at least 30% of board seats should also be held by
men. The law applies
only to Large Companies (defined as having 250 or more employees)
and will cease to exist by 2016! If a company does not
comply, it must explain how it plans to achieve a “well-balanced”
board. The Ministry of
Public Safety and Justice is scheduled to review the law and its
implementation within three years. According to the 2010
Dutch Female Board Index, only 8.1% of board directors are
female in the If quotas for women directors in
government-owned companies are included,
The major propellant
for Europe’s drive for gender diversity on corporate boards was
*
Profile – Norwegian women directors
tended to be younger
(less than 50 years old), better educated (mostly in
law, but not many with science/technology background), and more
tended to be corporate managers than men. More male directors, however,
owned their own businesses. * Recruitment
– Women directors came through professional networks, as men
did. The phenomenon of
‘golden skirts’ – some women holding several board seats at the same
time – was as true for women as for some men. Women with greater
visibility and profiles tended to go for board seats in the largest
companies. * Corporate
Response – To evade the quota regulation, 33% of companies chose
not to be listed in the Stock Exchange. However, even those
companies that didn’t have to comply with the mandate increased
their percentage of women directors from 15% in 2004 to 17% in
2009. * Impact
– The quota law did not change the paucity of women CEOs (only 2%),
the small representation of women in Executive Committees (10%) or
the few women who hold chairmanships
(3%).
“In principle I’m against quotas,” states Telenor Chairman
Harald Norvik. “But I’m
happy with the result,” he added. Since the quota law was
implemented, there are no more debates about gender diversity. (Source: Jump,
11/10/10).
Corporate governance experts and advocates
have been amazed with
Elizabeth Broderick, Australia’s Federal Sex Descrimination
Commissioner, has been credited with putting the issue of women on
boards front and center through the media and research data provided
by the government. She
encouraged action on the part of the private sector, with the
possibility of a government quota hanging in the air if businesses
did not respond.
Respond they did.
The Australian Stock Exchange now has the most aggressive and
coherent approach to gender diversity among stock exchanges
globally. It is now
requiring listed companies to report annually on the percentage of
women on its board, senior management, employees as a whole, as well
as their plans with timetables on how to improve on those
numbers. This
requirement has now moved two prominent large companies to announce
their own targets for improving women’s representation in the senior
ranks.
Australia’s Institute of Corporate Directors has also
promoted women’s access to board seats through training that
prepares senior management for board positions, a scholarship
program for senior women developed with *
If you wanted to have a global look at women directors
in 51 countries *
If you wanted to know what countries are doing to
improve women’s access to board seats * If you wanted to know all the research on the ‘business case’ for board diversity *
If you wanted to know who are the advocates
for change in several countries, Get a copy of the 2011 CWDI Report on
ACCELERATING BOARD DIVERSITY. (Click to http://www.globewomen.org/CWDI/order_form.htm for
the order form. |
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