International Women's Day : Evolution in company boards, revolution in mindsets

Tomorrow's International Women's Day prompts former Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding to exercise pressure on the legislative procedure concerning her 2012 proposal to establish quota for the representation of women on company boards. Despite the strong support of the European Parliament, the proposal is being held hostage to the reluctance of some member states in the Council. The European Commission does not seem to pursue the proposal with much zeal any longer either.

Reding regretted that the European Commission is currently not applying appropriate pressure for her proposal to advance. Regarding the German reluctance she said: "There is a generous compromise on the table that caters to the German concerns. But why does the Commission not press more eagerly for Germany to accept this tailor-made compromise?" Reding also called the member states to account: "The International Women's Day is a symbolic day, on which many beautiful speeches are delivered. But I would like to know from those member states that are dragging their feet in the Council, why on the other 364 days of the year they are blocking a proposal that is manifestly good for European women and the European economy?" She reminded that precisely in times of seemingly intractable impasse, the Commission should be proactive. "I hope that the current lack of action is not a sign that the proposal will be dropped soon. There can be no question of withdrawing this proposal - a fate which lately befell the maternity leave directive. Europe must face the future, not turn its back on it", thus Reding.

Notwithstanding this unaccommodating political context, Reding emphasized the positive economic impact: "The Women's quota is not an end to itself. It is there to breach the glass ceiling. The first cracks are already visible. We are witnessing an evolution in company boards, and a revolution in mindsets." Even though the legislative proposal has not yet become law, it is already producing some effect. The female representation in the governing bodies of listed companies has clearly risen. In October 2015 the EU-average for female representation on company boards was around 23%, whereas the same figure in 2010 stood at only 12%. The fact that this number has almost doubled, is an important progress. The increase came about mostly thanks to national laws that were voted in the spirit of the directive that is yet to emerge from the Council. As such female representation in France went up by 24%, totalling 36%, in Italy it went up by 24%, totalling 29% and in Germany the numbers went up by 13%, totalling 26%. "We are still far away from the target of 40%, but we're going in the good direction", Reding added in conclusion.