Guest post by Gareth Cartman (learn more about Gareth at the end of this post)
It appears that patience is fast running out in the halls of the European Parliament. A vote to introduce quotas securing at least 30% of boardroom places for women by 2015 has gone through, and that rises to 40% by 2020. Countries are already adopting their own laws – France, for example, has moved to give women 20% of places in the board room, and 40% in six years, while the Netherlands has made it 30% by 2016.
Even Italy has got in on the act. Here in the UK, there’s no such law in place, nor are there any recommendations. We’re hardly leading the way. If we were to implement the EU’s recommendations, we would have to double, maybe even treble the number of women in the UK’s boardrooms.
Where are we now? 5.7% of FTSE 150 boardrooms are women. 21% of those companies have NO women on the board. Voluntary inclusion does not therefore result in an increase in representation.
Research carried out by Spencer Stuart shows that French businesses, who are now compelled by law, are seeking more diverse backgrounds in order to find female candidates. In fact, by doing so, they have found a wider talent pool, and more than 50% of boardroom appointments over the last year have been women.
That’s what I call progress. The selection process has been radically altered in order to find the best people. So, instead of positively discriminating by saying “this position has to be filled by a woman”, French businesses are actively seeking new skill sets, and filling positions accordingly – on merit. They are changing the way boards think, from the narrow focus of old (i.e. finance, sales, operations) to a new world vision (entrepreneurs, consultants, HR & communications).
Those much harped-about fears that enforcing equality within the boardroom would lead to positive discrimination and weaker boards – therefore weaker businesses – have been put to rest by a nation we generally don’t associate with forward business thinking. But then again, we were wrong. French businesses are traditionally female-friendly, with more women returning to work after maternity leave thanks to subsidised childcare, and more women climbing the ladder as a result.
So, back to the original question: do we have to force women into the boardroom? To a certain degree, yes, we do. By enforcing quotas on businesses, we enforce new behaviour. No business serious about its future would react to the quota by appointing women simply to meet a quota. They should react by reviewing how they appoint directors, and expanding the criteria so that they can tap into a wider talent pool. These new skills bring new attitudes and new thinking into board rooms, which can only be positive.
This shouldn’t be about advancing the cause for equality, it should be about establishing a more modern, natural order in the way we do business. If we require a quote to change that way of thinking, then so be it. Enforce away.
About the Author
Gareth Cartman blogs frequently about HR and workplace issues, and currently works with Ceridian, a leading global HR and Payroll provider.
I agree that the quotas will do much to modernize and diversify boards and give women a critical voice. It will also mean better business results by studies conducted by Catalyst.org. However, we cannot stop at board quotas alone. Companies must examine their senior leadership and strive to be as gender and racially diverse in promotions and hirings there as well. European quotas have done much to bring women onto boards, but unfortunately, this has not trickled down to senior leadership as of yet.
My company, Shoptimize, a social enterprise .org( because we give at least 1% of our after tax profits to nonprofits as dedicated to advancing women as we are) is trying a novel approach, one that is consumer driven. Ours is a shopping website where one can shop women to the top. We feature products only from women-led growth companies. This can be another solution that channels the overwhelming (80%) purchasing power that women hold.
Hi Donna,
Totally agree with you, but I’d suggest that at lower to middle managerial levels, women are increasingly well positioned and represented, almost to the extent that men need to start looking at diversifying their own skills in order to keep up! Now that’s a discussion nobody’s had!
Agreed that there are certain areas in organizations that tend to be heavily female. I see it particularly at midlevels and higher of HR, as well as financial accounting. Outside of the corporate arena, a male elementary school teacher is a rare breed indeed. We do always make the argument that we need more women in the board room and we do, however, I think we need more gender diversity in all jobs. Research does show that groups perform better when they are gender diverse and I think we need to encourage gender diversity in all sorts of work groups.
Every day the debate rages on about women, men, parity and the workplace. You know the opinions, but what are the facts? Women are now responsible for more business startups in the United States than men. 150% more, as a matter of fact. Overall, women-owned businesses are an increasing percentage of the whole. Even so, for large companies, only 60 percent percent have a women on their board of directors. Hopefully, more women starting business translates into more women CEOs and offices in the next few years.