Top Scandinavian companies have steadily increased the number of women in the boardrooms since introducing quotas and other proactive policies into their systems, reveals a new survey.

12 June 2006

AMSTERDAM - Top Scandinavian companies have steadily increased the number of women in the boardrooms since introducing quotas and other proactive policies into their systems, reveals a new survey.

Women remain scarce in boardrooms throughout the rest of Europe, a situation largely unchanged since the same EuropeanPWN BoardWomen Monitor survey was first carried out in 2004 reports the European Professional Women's Network, which initiated the research.

The survey, carried out by executive search firm Egon Zehnder International using data from BoardEx, showed that all Scandinavian countries have at least one woman on the board of the top companies surveyed.

Norway remains the leader of the Scandinavian cluster, with 28.88 percent of top companies having a woman in the boardroom, compared to 22 percent when the survey was first carried out two years ago. Sweden follows with 22.8 percent, Finland with 20 percent and Denmark has made ground with 17.9 percent of boards in leading companies in Denmark having a female representative.

The laggards in Europe are Italy and Portugal, with Belgium, Spain and Greece only a little ahead.

The Netherlands, which has a female board representation below the European average, and which remains at the slow end of the middle-of-the-road group along with the UK, Austria, France and Germany, showed that as many as 71 percent of the women on the boards of leading Dutch companies were foreign women.

Finland, although ahead of the pack, also showed a high percentage of foreign top women executives, with 42 percent of women board members being expatriates, which shows that companies can resort to seeking qualified women candidates from abroad when seeking to promote diversity.

Out of the industry sectors, female board representation is greatest in household goods, speciality finance and oil and gas, and lowest in chemicals utilities and automotives.

Overall, Europe lags behind the USA and Canada, but the world leader is Norway, which sets it up as an example of global best practice. Spain's recent plan to introduce the quota system could see this trend amplifying over the next few years.

Norway's success can be traced to the obligatory 40 percent quota of women in boardrooms imposed by the government on publicly listed companies. These companies, approximately 500 in Norway, are required to reach the 40 percent quota by the end of 2007 or be de-listed.

Evidence, said Mary van der Boon, President of the EPWN Women's international Network Amsterdam, on presenting the results in Amsterdam today, that "legislation with teeth" does work.

[Copyright Expatica 2006]