How to Get More Women in the Boardroom? Some Try Blunt Force

Globally, diversifying the work environments has been a popular topic of discussion in recent years. Ideally, there would be no gender discrimination but governments have taken to passing laws to promote more women to top management positions. As a result, in countries such as Italy, Germany and several other European nations, the number of women on big company boards has tripled and, in some cases, quadrupled. 


In France for instance,  their government passed a law in 2011 which required all blue-chip firms to fill at least 40% of board seats with women and gave them six years to meet this requirement. In that time, the quantity of female directors within the country’s biggest companies more than doubled to 43% of board representation, as illustrated by the Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), a research and advocacy group's data suggests.

The introduction of these quotas has put a new spin on recruiting tactics, one such female board member suggests; Sophie Bellon, chairwoman of Sodexo SA recently joined the board of cosmetics giant L'Oreal in 2015.  She explains, that “there is more energy and more thought put into how people are chosen, what kind of talent or skills companies want.” Increasing the effort put forth to find these highly qualified women is imperative to bringing about this change.

Although this measure is driving up the number of female board members, this has not increased the number of ladies working in top management positions as the lawmakers had hoped. In Norway, only 15 of the country's 200 largest companies have a female CEO, and in the United States the number is about the same. Diversifying thanks to government intervention is helpful, but it is disheartening that businesses do not see the value of having women in more leadership positions. Today, mounting research links a greater number of women in the boardroom with more positives than ever including greater long-term financial performance and less corporate governance-related scandals than average as compared to those boardrooms with no women.

While there are groups who counter that it is difficult to prove female directors are the true cause of more positive outcomes, companies such as BlackRock Inc. the world’s largest money manager, said earlier this year that companies in which it invests should have at least two female directors. New York State Common Retirement Fund said last month it would oppose the re-election of directors on hundreds of U.S. corporate boards with no women. This change in direction is refreshing however in the United States the change is still on a voluntary basis. For many, rushing companies to comply with a quota could create new problems. 


As a group, women have been unifying for their advancement in a big way in recent years.The demand for better pay, advancement in the workplace, and zero tolerance to sexual harassment have been hotly debated topics and people want change; this part of the external environment has had a big influence on changes such as this. Now that this environmental change has reached our workplaces, hopefully we can expect to see more women leading companies and creating new industries; even seeing women uplifting each other more in the future would be a welcome change.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-get-more-women-in-the-boardroom-some-try-blunt-force-1524648602
Article written by, Vanessa FuhrmansUpdated April 25, 2018 6:28 a.m. ET