|
European Union
European Commission - Press release
Gender Balance: Business schools are crucial to getting more women into
top jobs
Brussels, 26 September 2011 - EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding
today met with leaders of Europe's business schools to discuss how to
improve the gender balance in company boardrooms by encouraging more
young women to follow a career in business. Despite around 60% of
university graduates being female, women still represent only 12% of
board members in Europe's biggest listed companies and only 3% of board
presidents. Business schools play a crucial role in equipping young
women for a career in business and helping them to reach the top. They
are helping women to prepare for professional careers through seminars,
training programmes and providing networking opportunities. Their
initiatives follow Vice-President Reding's call to companies to pledge
to voluntarily increase the number of women on corporate boards to 30%
by 2015 and to 40% by 2020 (MEMO/11/124).
"Business schools help shape the minds of future leaders. It is here
that young women and men get inspiration for their business careers,"
said Vice-President Reding, the EU's Justice Commissioner. "We all have
to make sure that our female talent considers this route in the first
place. I am especially glad to see European business schools involved
in this process. It reassures me that the education sector is strongly
committed to the challenge of fighting the roots of inequality."
"This superb initiative of the European Commission is in total harmony
with our goal of focusing on what is a major issue for Europe's
business schools and businesses - namely, how should we remove the
glass ceiling that blocks our female graduates from pursuing top-level
international careers, despite their being as equally well-trained as
their male counterparts," said EDHEC Dean Olivier Oger.
Today's meeting brings together deans of European business schools and
female business leaders to discuss the role of women in European
corporate governance. It is organised by EDHEC business school, the
Global Telecom Women's Network (GTWN) and McKinsey & Company.
Background
As Europe's population ages, women are crucial to meeting the Europe
2020 employment target of 75% (see IP/10/225). Joint efforts by
governments, social partners and businesses are needed to improve the
status quo.
Only 12% of members of the supervisory boards at Europe's largest
companies are women and in 97% of cases the board is chaired by a man.
Progress over the past years has been very slow: the share of female
board members in the EU has increased by just over half a percentage
point per year over the last seven years. At this rate, unless action
is taken, it will take another 50 years before there is a reasonable
gender balance (at least 40% of each sex) on supervisory boards. In the
meantime, publicly-listed firms in the EU keep losing out on female
talent.
On 1 March, EU Justice Commissioner Reding met chief executives and
chairs of boards of publicly listed companies to discuss the
under-representation of women on corporate boards. She challenged all
publicly listed companies in Europe to sign up to the "Women on the
Board Pledge for Europe" and commit voluntarily to increasing women's
participation on corporate boards to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020
(see IP/11/242 and MEMO/11/124).
The "Women Boardroom Pledge" is available on Vice-President Reding's
website. It will help monitor how companies are working towards getting
more women in top jobs. Every publicly listed company can sign the
pledge and lead with a good example. In March 2012, the European
Commission will re-assess the situation to see whether there has been
significant progress and whether credible self-regulatory initiatives
were developed to enhance women's participation in decision-making.
Based on the results, the Commission will then decide on the next steps
to be taken.
For more information:
SPEECH/11/604
Women on the Board pledge:
ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding/womenpledge/index_en.ht
m
European Commission - gender balance in decision-making:
ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/inde
x_en.htm
Homepage of Vice-President Viviane Reding, EU Justice Commissioner:
ec.europa.eu/reding
ANNEX: List of Participants
Business Schools and Universities Represented
Cambridge University: Judge Business School
EDHEC
Erasmus University: Rotterdam School of Management
ESMT
IESE
IMD
University of St. Gallen - Institute for Leadership and Human Resource
Management
London Business School
Oxford University: Center for Corporate Reputation
Women Members of the Board of Directors
Bridget Boone - Member of the Board of Directors of Fortis Private
Equity Group, FB Acquisition Finance Holding B.V., Fortis Private
Equity Holding Nederland B.V. and NeSBIC Groep B.V. , BGL Société
Anonyme
Bridget Cosgrave - Member of the Board of Directors SES , Essinor ,
Steria and President GTWN
Hélène Deslauriers - Member of the Board of Directors of Southwest
Water (UK) and Fluxys
Candace Johnson - President of the Board of Directors of Succes Europe,
Croissance Europe and Innovation Europe, Founding Member of the Board
of Directors of SES , Founding President of GTWN
Lady Barbara Judge (CBE) - Member of the Board of Directors Statoil ASA
, NV Bekaert SA and Magna International Inc .
Organizations represented
EPWN - European Professional Women's Network
Financial Times Non-Executive Director's Club
GTWN - Global Telecom Women's Network
GUBERNA - Belgian Governance and Board Members Association
Institut des Administrateurs
WOB - Women on Board
EFMD - European Federation of Management Development
McKinsey & Co.
Luis Enriquez - Global Partner
Scott Beardsley - Global Partner
Astrid Marechal - Partner (Responsible for "Women Matter" report)
Mieke van Oostende - Partner (Responsible for "Women Matter" report)
Contacts :
Noot voor redacties
|
|
