Listed companies in the EU must have at least 40 percent women on their boards of directors. The EU states have agreed on this thanks to Germany’s concession. If you are below that, you must give preference to women if you have the same qualifications.
Even without such regulations, the proportion of women on boards of directors in the EU has doubled from 15.2% in 2012 to 30.6% last year.
“Finally,” wrote Viviane Reding on Monday on the short message service Twitter. A decision by the Council of the 27 EU Member States put the Luxembourger in a good mood. The EU should have a quota for women on the boards of directors of large, listed companies. The responsible ministers agreed on this on Monday. However, Reding first presented the proposal ten years ago as EU Commissioner.
Gender equality, finally! 10 years after I presented the EU directive “women on corporate boards”, the Council of ministers today seeks a general agreement. The Parliament has been pushing https://t.co/yn3VEhkMjr the Governments follow.A long time lost for talent on boards…
— Viviane Reding (@VivianeRedingEU) March 14, 2022
Made it. The EU Commission has passed my proposal for an EU law so that 40% of supervisory boards are occupied by women by 2020
— Viviane Reding (@VivianeRedingEU) November 14, 2012
At that time she was confident and had already announced on Twitter: “Done”. However, the proposed law was subsequently blocked by critical member states, including Germany.
With the traffic light government, however, there has now been a change in Berlin. “As long as women are not adequately represented in key positions, democracy is not complete,” said the German Foreign Minister of the Greens, Annalena Baerbock, in mid-February Twitter with. The German government will pave the way for the EU directive on management positions, she announced.
Democracy is not complete until women are adequately represented in key positions. Anne #Mirror and i advocate for #EU– Targets for women in management positions. As the federal government, we are paving the way for the ?? directive #Leading position. pic.twitter.com/8afz6YaJtH
— Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) February 17, 2022
Specifically, from 2027, the board of directors of listed companies must have at least 40 percent women among the non-executive members. Or the proportion must be at least 33 percent if management is included. The requirement is formulated neutrally and refers to the “underrepresented gender”, which mostly affects women.
If a company violates the regulations, it must elect or appoint the members of its executive bodies on the basis of “clear, unambiguous and neutrally formulated criteria”, as stated in a Message of the council is called. The member states must then “ensure” that the companies “give preference to the underrepresented sex” in the case of equally qualified applicants.
However, if an EU state like Germany already has comparable national regulations, it does not have to follow the guidelines for the election and appointment of female board members. This also applies to countries like France, which have already reached the target of 40 percent. And the member states can also choose which of the two targets they want to prescribe.
Even without such regulations, however, the proportion of women on administrative boards in the EU has doubled from 15.2 percent in 2012 to 30.6 percent last year.
In a European comparison, Switzerland has an average of 30 percent among the largest listed companies bundled in the SMI. Switzerland has a “women’s quota light”. Companies that do not have 30 percent women on the board of directors by 2025 and at least 20 percent women on the executive board by 2030 must explain themselves and present improvement measures.
In the EU, the Council and Parliament, which had agreed to such a quota in the past, now have to agree on the precise structure. That will hardly take another ten years.