One year after EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding called for self-regulatory measures to strenghten the representation of women on boards of European companies, only a limited progress has been achieved. That is a ¨finding of a just released report by the European Commission.
Women currently hold only one in seven board positions in major European companies (13.7%). In 2010 it was 11, 8%. "However, it would still take more than 40 years to reach a significant gender balance (at least 40% of both sexes) at this rate," the report sates.
The Commission has therefore launched a public consultation and ask for views on actions at EU level, including legislative measures, which should lead to correcting the imbalance between men and women on boards. The public consultation will last until 28 May 2012. The Based on the results, the Commission will then decide on further steps during this year.
In March 2011, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding called on companies listed on the European stock exchanges to voluntary commit to increase the representation of women on boards to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020. The commitment has, however, been signed only by 24 companies so far.
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