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Belgium
Italy
Malaysia
The Italian Parliament
Building
Malaysian Minister for Women, Family and
Community Development Shahrizat Abdul
Jalil
France
The percentage of women board directors of Sanofi
has increased from 6.25% in 2009, to 14.% in 2010, to its
current level of 20% in June 2011.
Christine Lagarde
Managing
Director, International Monetary Fund
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Katie
Couric
First U.S.Female News Anchor
A woman farmer in
Rwanda where over 40% of farms are women-owned.
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I. MORE
QUOTA BREAKTHROUGHS FOR WOMEN ON CORPORATE
BOARDS
CWDI Chair Irene Natividad (center) with Belgian
Senator Sabine DeBethune (left) and Minister of Employment and
Equality Joelle
Milquet
BELGIUM
Within three days in June, three different
countries continued the momentum begun by Norway in changing the
board composition of their largest companies through quota
legislation.
Belgium’s Senate passed on June 30th a
quota law approved last May in the Lower House that requires 33% of
board seats in publicly listed and state owned companies to be
allocated for women.
There is a five-year transition for large companies, and
seven years for small and medium enterprises. The sanction for
non-compliance hits directors in their wallets – they do not get
paid. Women’s representation
on Belgium’s corporate
boards currently stands at
7.7%.
ITALY
In a surprise development,
Italy’s Parliament approved on June
29th its own quota law requiring women’s representation of 33% in
the boards of its companies by 2015. At least 20% representation
must be reached by 2012.
Non-compliance will require explanation, then a fine after
four months, followed by voiding of the board’s actions if the quota
is still not met.
Italy’s
percentage of women directors is at 5% -- one of the lowest in
Europe, so this quota is a major
step.
MALAYSIA
Outside of Europe, Malaysia now has a government
policy as of June 27th and approved by the Prime Minister
requiring also a third of board seats to be held by women in listed,
state-owned and financial services companies. Spearheaded by
Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who leads the Ministry for Women,
Family and Community Development, this quota must be reached by
2016. Among the 200
companies listed in the Bursa Malaysia, only 7.6% of board directors
are women.
Malaysia’s
quota policy is the first in Asia
and the first for a Muslim nation.
FRANCE
Among the countries with recent quotas, is
progress being made? In
France, which passed its quota law only last October, the percentage
of women directors has moved up rapidly to 16.5% in 2011 compared to
only 7.4% only three years earlier. A nine per cent increase
within such a short span of time would not have been conceivable
prior to enactment of France’s quota law. One example is Sanofi
corporation, which had only 6.25% women-held board seats in 2009,
which then increased to 14.3% in 2010, but is now at 20% in
June 2011. “Clearly, the French quota
law has been a spur to companies to speed up their inclusion of
women in board appointments,” states Irene Natividad, Chair of
Corporate Women Directors International and author of its 2010
Report on “Accelerating Board Diversity.” To view the up-to-date chart
of all countries with quotas, please log on to http://globewomen.org/CWDI/CWDI-PERCENTAGES.htm.
Percentage of Women Board
Directors of France's CAC40, 2007, 2009,
2011
_________________________________________________________________
II. INTERNATIONAL
MONETARY FUND'S NEW LEADER: CHRISTINE
LAGARDE
Another glass
ceiling was broken recently with the ascension of Christine Lagarde
to head the International Monetary Fund based in Washington, D.C. Best known as the former
French Minister of Finance who was appointed by two consecutive
Prime Ministers, Ms. Lagarde also has had extensive business
experience in her prior role as Chairman of Baker Mckenzie, the
largest law firm in the world.
She has been very vocal about the need to accelerate women’s
leadership roles in all areas of society and has expressed recently
her support for the French quota legislation for women board
directors.
The
11th European to serve as Managing Director of the IMF,
she promised to diversify the Fund in terms of race, gender, culture
and academic background “so that people are not clones of each
other.” When asked
about how she would lead the institution differently from her
predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, she stated: "One difference that comes to my mind right
from the start is the management style because I'm a different
person, and I'm probably more inclusive, more team-minded." She comes to the IMF
with the Eurozone in turmoil, the global recovery faltering, and an
institution traumatized by the resignation of a prior leader brought
down by personal scandal.
Her plate is full, but her supporters, which include
Germany’s Angela Merkel,
laud her strength, smarts, professionalism and vast experience. (Source: Wall Street Journal,
Europe,
7/10/11).
_________________________________________________________________
III. BBC'S
NEW DIVERSITY STRATEGY
A
study by the Cultural Diversity Network in the UK –
a partnership of British broadcasters and industry companies to
create greater diversity within companies and their on-screen
content – found that men occupied twice as much screen time than
women. A similar report
by the White House Project in the United
States found the same disparity in
the use of women as ‘expert’ commentators compared to men –
infrequent no matter the subject. The rise of women anchors or
‘presenters’ in two major networks’ news programs, ABC and CBS, has
not resulted in the greater use of women as expert commentators,
especially in business, science, or foreign affairs
stories.
Partly
in response to the Cultural Diversity Network finding, the British
Broadcasting Corporation has rolled out a four year diversity
strategy that better mirrors its consumers. The global network will be
looking at improving its workforce diversity as well as its
programming strategy to better reflect its audience. A strong business rationale
underlies this commitment, but is also the result of internal and
external surveys that BBC has conducted. (EMEA Diversity News,
2nd Quarter 2011).
_________________________________________________________________
IV. WOMEN, FOOD PRODUCTION AND
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
Women
are the majority of the world’s farmers, who produce 50% of food
worldwide on land which only 1% own, according to Credit Suisse
Managing Director Marisa Drew.
Recent studies by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization
and the Population Fund suggested that the underperforming
agricultures of developing economies could be greatly strengthened
if women were given equal access to resources, such as education,
land, technology, seed, fertilizers and credit. Empowering women through
these means could increase their yields and lift 100-150 million
people out of hunger. A
Roundtable on March 8th, International Women’s Day,
organized by FAO among others, stated more strongly that
without women’s empowerment,
the problems of world hunger and poverty cannot be solved. (Source: The State of Food and
Agriculture Report 2010-11:
Women in Agriculture, Closing the Gender Gap in
Development)
Rwanda’s
experience, where women had to take over running farms formerly run
by husbands and fathers killed in the genocide, provides a living
lesson in the effectiveness of this recommendation. With support from their
government, NGOs and multilateral agencies, Rwandan women learned
how to manage these farms, experimented with more durable seeds,
fought to gain title to their land, with the result that over 40% of
small businesses that include farms in Rwanda are now
women-owned , and the majority are prosperous. This economic strength
translated to political clout – Rwanda is the only
country in the world with a female majority Parliament
(55%).
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