Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Ten years for a small but important step for women

Evelyn Regner 24th October 2022

European Union institutions at long last finalise a directive to put more women on company boards.

In 2012, I became rapporteur of a directive aimed at addressing the under-representation of women on boards among European Union member states. It was a proposal to create a level playing-field.

Since then, numerous attempts, mostly by social-democratic governments, failed however to persuade a majority among member states to go ahead. The main reason? The German conservatives and liberals did not want a European rule.

After the arrival of the Ampelkoalition in Germany in December 2021, we tried again and worked closely with the French presidency of the Council of the EU to secure a council majority. This was achieved in March. After intensive negotiations, the co-legislators, the European Parliament and the council, reached a preliminary agreement on the directive in June.

After some back and forth with the liberals in the German coalition, support held and a majority in council was reached in the middle of this month. Now the last step is approval by the parliament—which I am sure will come by the end of November.

It is thanks to the Socialists and Democrats that the directive has not been put aside. Many moves were made to drop it, since it was deemed too difficult to ever win a majority among the member states. Perseverance on the part of many (mostly female) colleagues and myself proved necessary. I am proud to say: we did it!

Glass ceiling

Yet some might ask: why keep fighting for a rule focused only on the top-notch jobs in our societies? There are many reasons but equal chances for all, from the ground up, are only possible if we break the glass ceiling.

Representation of women in corporate leadership is improving, but progress remains slow and there are significant differences among member states. In 2021, around 30 per cent of non-executive board members of the largest listed companies in the EU were women. The pace has slowed considerably since 2016 and in seven countries women still make up less than one-fifth of all non-executive board members. In about one-fifth of companies, non-executive boards are still exclusively male, including more than half the companies in Estonia, Cyprus and Hungary.

The data show one thing above all: legislative measures to redress the gender imbalance in economic decision-making are driving progress. In October 2021, the proportion of women on the boards of the largest listed companies in countries with national gender quotas was 36.4 per cent, compared with 30.3 per cent in countries with less strong measures and only 16.6 per cent in countries with no measures at all. Quotas have more than tripled the rate of change, to now 2.9 percentage points per year. Progress in countries without legal measures is only 0.7 percentage points per year.

And the gap remains. In the EU, fewer than one in ten chief executives and board chairs are female (8.5 per cent and 7.8 per cent respectively in October 2021). Women make up only about one-fifth (20.2 per cent) of senior executives.

Enhancing performance

Why is it then important to close this gender gap in top management? It is widely recognised that the presence of women in management improves corporate governance by enhancing team performance and the quality of decision-making, through a more diverse and collective mindset incorporating a broader range of perspectives. Companies do better. To ignore this would not only be short-sighted—it would be bad management.

The ‘women on boards’ directive will address the quality of board members—executive and non-executive—of listed companies. At its heart lies the process of selection. If the process is flawed, the best qualified candidates will not be shortlisted—to the detriment of the company as well as the candidates. This is why the directive focuses on transparency and qualification in selection.

Where candidates have equal qualifications, the candidate of the under-represented gender—in most cases women—must be selected to meet the target of 40 per cent of non-executive board members or 33 per cent of non-executive and executive board members combined. (So if a company happened to have 65 per cent women already, a man would have to be hired since he would be of the under-represented sex.)

We shall check if these targets are achieved throughout the EU by June 2026, via reporting and ‘effective, proportionate and dissuasive’ penalties. The data show clearly that binding measures are imperative for such legislation to be effective.

Opening a door

Of course more women in decision-making positions is only one of many measures which need to be taken to achieve gender equality in the workplace. This directive opens a door—a door to better companies, where the selection of decision-makers is based on competence and transparency and where the toxic features of internal corporate culture are addressed top-down. Again, the data show that this actually works once the management level is diverse.

This is, however, only the first and already very heavy door on to these important issues—and it has taken a decade to open. Much more needs to be done to achieve a discrimination-free workplace and gender-balanced corporate boards. Pay transparency is currently under negotiation among the European co-legislators (the parliament and the council) and more effective measures against sexual harassment are also on the table. All this will lead to a change in workplace culture, combining top-down and bottom-up approaches.

But for now the women-on-boards directive is a first ‘foot in the door’ for women—and it cannot be slammed against us any more.

Pics 5
Evelyn Regner

Evelyn Regner, an Austrian MEP, is a vice-president of the European Parliament and former chair of its Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee.

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u421983467e58be8 81f2 4326 80f2 d452cfe9031e 1 “The Universities Are the Enemy”: Why Europe Must Act NowBartosz Rydliński
u42198345f5300d0e 2 Britain’s COVID Generation: Why Social Democracy Must Seize the MomentJatinder Hayre
u42198346761805ea24 2 Trump’s ‘Golden Era’ Fades as European Allies Face Harsh New RealityFerenc Németh and Peter Kreko
u4219834664e04a 8a1e 4ee0 a6f9 bbc30a79d0b1 2 Closing the Chasm: Central and Eastern Europe’s Continued Minimum Wage ClimbCarlos Vacas-Soriano and Christine Aumayr-Pintar
u421983467f bb39 37d5862ca0d5 0 Ending Britain’s “Brief Encounter” with BrexitStefan Stern

Most Popular Articles

startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer
u421983467 2a24 4c75 9482 03c99ea44770 3 Trump’s Trade War Tears North America Apart – Could Canada and Mexico Turn to Europe?Malcolm Fairbrother
u4219834676e2a479 85e9 435a bf3f 59c90bfe6225 3 Why Good Business Leaders Tune Out the Trump Noise and Stay FocusedStefan Stern
u42198346 4ba7 b898 27a9d72779f7 1 Confronting the Pandemic’s Toxic Political LegacyJan-Werner Müller
u4219834676574c9 df78 4d38 939b 929d7aea0c20 2 The End of Progess? The Dire Consequences of Trump’s ReturnJoseph Stiglitz

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
How are minimum wage levels changing in Europe?

In a new Eurofound Talks podcast episode, host Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound expert Carlos Vacas Soriano about recent changes to minimum wages in Europe and their implications.

Listeners can delve into the intricacies of Europe's minimum wage dynamics and the driving factors behind these shifts. The conversation also highlights the broader effects of minimum wage changes on income inequality and gender equality.

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!


Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US – hitherto the cornerstone of Western security – is destabilising the world order it helped to build. The US security umbrella is apparently closing on Europe, Ukraine finds itself less and less protected, and the traditional defender of free trade is now shutting the door to foreign goods, sending stock markets on a rollercoaster. How will the European Union respond to this dramatic landscape change? .


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss European defence strategies, assess how the US president's recent announcements will impact international trade and explore the risks  and opportunities that algorithms pose for workers.


READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity”,

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

What kind of impact is artificial intelligence (AI) having, or likely to have, on the way we work and the conditions we work under? Discover the latest issue of HesaMag, the ETUI’s health and safety magazine, which considers this question from many angles.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641