"Historic day for gender balance and equality." That is the way yesterday was described by Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, when the European Commission approved her proposal for a directive on the introduction of mandatory quotas for women's representation on boards of the largest European companies until 2020.
For this directive to take effect, it must be additionally approved by the European Parliament and the European Council. If adopted, it will cover the private companies listed on European stock exchanges on boards of which women take less than 40% of non-executive directors' positions. These are approximately 5,000 companies with more than 250 employees and a worldwide turnover of more than € 50 million. If these firms do not meet the demanded 40% quota, they will have to pay fines.
11 EU member states plus Norway, which is a member of the European Economic Area, have already introduced their own measures to strengthen gender equality on boards of companies. In eight of these countries, the measures relate to public organizations. In the other EU countries, no such measures exist and there has been no significant shift in this filed. A report of the European Commission from March 2012 found that women took only one out of seven (13.7%) positions on boards of the most important European companies. In 2010, it was 11.8%. At this rate, it would take more than 40 years to achieve a much more balanced representation of women and men (at least 40% for both sexes).
The approval of the Viviane Reding's proposal triggered an immediate reaction in European countries with opponents being heard the most. Nine EU countries, including the Czech Republic, expressed their disagreement already in mid-September when it had been announced that Reding would submit her proposal. In a letter addressed to the European Commission's President José Manuel Barroso and Commissioner Viviane Reding, the countries demanded the representation of women on boards to be dealt with at the level of individual states, not the entire EU.
Disagreement resounds even today, from the mouths of political leaders of the UK, Germany as well as the Czech Republic. Sharp statements of Czech politicians were published e.g. in this article in the today's Právo (novinky.cz) newspaper, the ODS government party immediately published a statement in which it rejected the "unreasonable quotas". On the contrary, the opposition Social Democrats support the quotas (see the article here) and positive feedback can be also heard from organizations fighting for women's rights such as the Forum 50% (see the press release here).
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