European Quotas for Women CEOs Help Crack Boardroom Glass Ceilings

Embargoed for Friday, November 18 Release

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2011  /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Women are cracking boardroom glass ceilings all over Europe, spurred on by new quota requirements in many countries to put women at the top, according to the latest Corporate Women Directors International study of women directors in Fortune Global 200 companies, the biggest in the world.

"Something is happening, and it's driven by Europe," said Irene Natividad, chair of the Washington-based international research group CWDI which releases its 17th annual report on Nov. 18.  "The momentum for more women on boards will change the face of the biggest companies in Europe, in the midst of the region's ongoing financial crisis. They are ahead of the ball game."

The major influence on many European companies -- government quotas for the number of women required to be in the boardroom, was initially propelled by Norway, but since adopted in Spain, France, the Netherlands, Iceland, Italy and Belgium.

The report looks at the records at women at the top in 11 countries, showing they are moving swiftly ahead of the United States and its record on women in the boardroom.

U.S. companies still lead other Fortune Global 200 companies with 20.8% women's representation on boards, but are poised to lag behind France (20.1%) shortly, given the U.S.'s anemic rate of increase of 3.3% since 2004, surpassed only by Japan's 1.1% poor showing bringing up the rear. "U.S. companies ought to do better in including women at the top of their organizations," states Jane Shaw, Chairman of Intel, included in CWDI's top ten best performing companies in 2011.

France's leap from only 7.2% of board seats held by women in 2004 to 20.1 percent this year was largely due to a quota law passed in 2010.  Spain, whose quota dates to 2007, also improved its percentage of women directors from 1.9 percent in 2004 to 9.2 percent in 2011.  

For more information about this survey and to interview board directors representing the top international companies with a high percentage of women directors, come a briefing and roundtable on the report at the IFC/World Bank in Washington, DC on Friday, Nov. 18 at 9 a.m.

About CWDI:  This report is the 17th study conducted by Corporate Women Directors International, a nonprofit organization which has provided research on women directors for the past fifteen years globally.  CWDI also convenes women directors in different countries on issues of corporate governance.

SOURCE Corporate Women Directors International