Women quota at almost 30 percent

The proportion of women on boards of directors is increasing worldwide, but only slowly. More than 75 percent of female board members of Swiss companies have a foreign passport.

At 29.1 percent, the proportion of female board members in Switzerland is below the Western European average of 35.5 percent.

Joseffson / Imago

Swiss women hardly ever make it onto the boards of directors of large companies. Instead, the board members of Swiss companies come from abroad – a large import of women. That is the result of a study by the HR consultant Egon Zehnder on diversity on boards of directors. According to the study, 75.8 percent of female board members in Switzerland have an international background. This proportion is well above the Western European average.

However, it is not surprising that women are still underrepresented on the board of directors. The most common route to a board of directors of a large corporation is via a previous management position, either as head of company or chief financial officer. In Switzerland, however, only 2.9 percent of the CEO positions examined and 6.1 percent of the CFO positions are occupied by women. The potential offspring is therefore still very male. This makes the search for female board members more complex.

Women are on the boards of directors – but still in the minority

Board positions held by women, in percent

The EU is further

“The fact that the talent pool for female board members in Switzerland is mainly located abroad gives food for thought,” says Simone Stebler, Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Egon Zehnder Switzerland. Overall, the proportion of female board members in Germany, at 29.1 percent, is below the Western European average of 35.5 percent. The proportion of women on boards of directors is increasing worldwide, but only slowly. However, the pace of change appears to be accelerating. Looking at Western Europe as a whole, the proportion of women on supervisory boards has increased faster in the past two years than in the previous ten years.

Simone Stebler, EgonZehnder

Simone Stebler, EgonZehnder

PD

Despite the apparently small selection of local female candidates, Swiss companies have an obligation to increase the proportion of women. Unlike in the EU, there is no prescribed quota for women. However, a so-called women’s quota light has been in effect since the 2020 amendment to the company law passed by Parliament. It is a benchmark of 30 percent women on the board of directors and 20 percent women on the executive board. If these proportions are not met, the company is obliged to state the reasons and outline measures for improvement. The gender guideline applies to boards of directors from 2026, while there is a longer transition period until 2031 for senior management.

According to Stebler, the study is a wake-up call for companies to promote women. However, the willingness of companies to build up this pool varies. This is very important for some companies. But for what feels like more than half of the companies, it is a mandatory exercise, according to Stebler. This could be an indication that many companies are not convinced of the benefits of gender diversity or consider the costs to be too high.

male resentment

In fact, there is already resentment from men who feel neglected and ask whether they still have the same career opportunities as before. Some men now have the impression that all board seats have gone to women. “But that’s not the case,” says Stebler.

At the Swiss companies included in the study, 10.6 percent of the positions on the board of directors were filled last year. 64 percent of these went to men, 36 percent to women. Incidentally, a share for “diverse” was not reported. This is still a long way from a 50-to-50 ratio. The study took into account large international companies with a market capitalization of at least 6 billion francs.

Part-time work reduces career opportunities

Another aspect is the women themselves. If you want a female candidate, you have to put more effort into the search, cast the net further and, in some cases, focus more on potential than experience, says Stebler. It has also been confirmed time and again that women rarely dare to take on a position whose job profile they do not yet meet 100 percent.

Another limiting factor is part-time work, which is widespread in Switzerland. At a certain level, many personnel experts say that it is difficult to make a career with a workload of less than 80 percent.

Because of the targeted benchmarks, there are now increased efforts in Switzerland to train local junior staff both for the board of directors and for management functions. However, the topic has not yet entered the minds of the executive board level as much as it has at the level of the board of directors. Stebler sees the reason for this in the fact that many initiatives initially focused on the board of directors.

Sluggish internationalization of boards of directors

Regardless of gender, the average proportion of board members with an international background is around a quarter globally – and has been falling in almost all regions of the world since 2012. With an average of almost 39 percent, Western Europe is the only region to show a continuous, albeit rather slow, upward trend. Switzerland is an exception here and, with a share of 63.5 percent, is well above the average.

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