Priority to women

“The European Union has been successfully promoting gender equality for over 50 years. However, there is one place where we have not seen any progress: company boardrooms”. Women in board member positions are still too few. The claim has been reiterated by Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding, who on November 14 presented with five -male- commissioners, a proposal to accelerate progress towards a better gender balance in Community’s economic realm. Although, it is “just the first step”.Positive examples. The Commissioner from Luxembourg proceeded with the support of president Barroso, and externally, of European Parliament majority, despite the doubts of a number of jurists, associations of enterprises and even some other women Commissioners. It is not a coincidence that the document was jointly presented by Reding and Lázsló Andor (portafolio employment and social affairs), Antonio Tajani (industry), Joaquín Almunia (competition), Olli Rehn (economic affairs), Michel Barnier (internal market). On the whole it is a legislative proposal that “sets an objective of a 40% presence of the under-represented sex among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges” (thus the provision will involve some 5thousand large enterprises. It does not apply to small and medium-sized enterprises (companies with less than 250 employees and an annual worldwide turnover not exceeding 50 million EUR) or non-listed companies. Reding said: “The example set by countries such as Belgium, France and Italy, who have recently adopted legislation and are starting to show progress, clearly demonstrates that time-limited regulatory intervention can make all the difference. The Commission’s proposal will make sure that in the selection procedure for non-executive board members priority is given to female candidates – provided they are under-represented and equally qualified as their male counterparts”.A rough terrain. It is predictably impossible for the Executive to impose on companies the criteria in choice of their managers. However, considering the low number of women in board positions and that there have not been significant improvements, it was deemed necessary to adopt measures to encourage Member States to take a stand in this field that involves the rights of individuals and of workers alike. “Today, with this proposal, the European Commission is answering the strong call of the European Parliament for EU action to bring about gender equality in corporate boardrooms. Today, we are asking large listed companies across Europe to show that they are serious when it comes to gender equality in economic decision-making”, Executive president José Manuel Barroso, released a statement written November 14 in support of Reding’s stand. According to ta survey by the Commission, “Just 1 in 7 board members (13.7%) at Europe’s top companies is a woman. This is only a slight improvement from 11.8% in 2010. At this slow rate of progress it would still take around 40 years to even get close to gender balance in boardrooms (at least 40% of both sexes).The present situation. Some states have begun to introduce laws to this regard. “Eleven States (Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Austria and Slovenia) have introduced legal instruments to promote gender quality on company boards. In eight of these countries, legislation covers public undertakings”. Meanwhile, a further 11 EU countries have neither self-regulation measures nor legislation in place. “This legally fragmented approach risks hampering the functioning of Europe’s Single Market” remarked Barroso. Skimmin through the various graphs in support of the proposal, there is a confirmation that the Countries where women are more enhanced at the lead of industrial and commercial enterprises, and services are those of Northern Europe: in Finland, Latvia and Sweden women occupy leading positions in great enterprises are over 25% of the whole (not “equality”, but better than elsewhere), in France as much as 22%; followed by Denmark, United Kingdom and Germany. While Malta, Ciprus and Hungary rank in the last positions (less than 5%), alongside with Portugal, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Romania. The proposed directive, due to be submitted for debate to the Council and Parliament, sets a 40% objective of the under-represented sex in non-executive board-member positions in publicly listed companies. “Companies which have a lower share of the under-represented sex among the non-executive directors will be required to make appointments to those positions on the basis of a comparative analysis of the qualifications of each candidate, by applying clear, gender-neutral and unambiguous criteria”, the Commission underlines. The objective of attaining at least 40% membership of the under-represented sex for the non-executive positions should thus be met by 2020.