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Women Quotas: France with new legislation, Germany follows suit

MBA News Barbara Bierach / 02-06-2011

France has passed legislation obliging large firms to ensure that women account for at least 40 percent of boardroom positions within six years. Germany follows suit with a female minister for Labor who muses loudly in the “Spiegel” about quotas of 30 per cent for both executive and non-executive directors in publicly traded companies.

Last year women accounted for only 15 percent of board members of the top 40 companies in France. Now many organizations scramble to find qualified female talent for top jobs. With its introduction of quotas France joins countries like Norway, Spain and Iceland, which have already implemented similar legislation, according to women's lobby organisations Catalyst. But critics claim that while this move may change numbers in the short-term, the problems underlying low female representation at board level call for deeper changes.

If Germany's proposal for a quota in both parts of their two tier system of corporate governance becomes reality all publicly traded companies have to find new staff for one third of all top management positions within the coming five years.

Sources: Reuters, Spiegel, Catalyst