EPWN 4th board monitor : The proportion of women on the boards of the top European companies has grown to 12% in 2010 … parity could be reached in 16 years

EPWN 4th board monitor : The proportion of women on the boards of the top European companies has grown to 12% in 2010 … parity could be reached in 16 years

• Sandrine Joseph
• octobre 8, 2010

On October 4th, European Professional Women’s network has published its 4th annual board monitor.

The key findings are :

• Companies score better on international diversity than gender diversity
• Almost 12% of board members is femaleThe proportion of women on the boards of the top European companies has grown to 12% in 2010 from 8% in 2004 : keeping current growth rate of 21% every two years, parity could be reached in 16 years.

Women make up 11.7% of boards at the top 300 European companies up from 9.7% in 2008 and 8.5% in 2006, the best progress since first BoardMonitor. Of a total 4,875 board seats, women occupy 571. As a result of quota legislation. Norway remains at the top of the table in having 37.9% women on boards. Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, Belgium and France have more than doubled the number of women on boards; the introduction of Corporate Governance Codes together with equal access legislations currently under discussion in a few countries is having a significant impact, as well as increased shareholder and media scrutiny of board membership.

Read more here.