SLIDE 1
COMPANY LAW AND REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN
Leena Linnainmaa Senior Deputy Director
SLIDE 2 Women as board members
▪ Catalyst, www.catalyst.org
– Fortune 500 companies
- When women directors more than average, profits + 35 %
compared to companies with less than average women directors
▪ Survey of the Finnish rating company Suomen Asiakastieto 7/2005
– TOP 500 Finnish companies
- 28 CEOs, 19 chair-women, 7 both women
- Profits etc considerably higher in companies led by women
▪ Study in Uppsala University, Sweden
– Lönnqvist/Niska/Mäkinen-Salmi
- 24 listed companies with the most women on board and 24 with no
women on board (years 2005, 2004 and 2002)
- Difference in profitability up to + 93 % with women directors
SLIDE 3 Glass ceiling
– Women: 5 % top management (Finland and Netherlands) – Despite
- women’s higher education
- Women working full-time (part-time work of women: Finland
18.5 %, Netherlands 75.3 %)
- Availability of child care (Finland available; NL not available)
– How to break the glass ceiling?
- New attitudes
- Role models
- Women’s networking
- Mentoring
- Training programs
SLIDE 4 Women lawyers in action
▪ EWLA
– Resolution in Budapest May 2006
– Statement in Brussels March 2007 – Discussions with the Commission
▪ Regional projects
SLIDE 5 EWLA Resolution on the Balanced Participation of Women and Men
- n the Boards of Listed Companies
▪ urges the Commission to promote a balanced participation of women and men on the boards of listed companies by issuing a specific Recommendation on this matter. ▪ expects the Commission to evaluate the effectiveness of its Recommendation after a period
- f no more than five years with a view to
recommending further measures such as national legislation on binding quotas if it finds that the Recommendation has not been implemented.
SLIDE 6
EWLA Statement on Women in Economic Decision-making Positions
▪ Urges the Commission to issue a Recommendation including:
– national programs – a duty to give information on gender distribution in management in the annual accounts of companies with more than 50 employees. – annual reports on action and results. – creation of a high-level government and private sector forum to discuss regularly actions for promoting women in decision-making positions. – assess the effectiveness of its Recommendation in 5 years - further measures.
▪ Suggests that the Commission launches an annual prize for employers who take innovative action in promoting women’s advancement.
SLIDE 7
Director Training Program for Women Lawyers
▪ EWLA in cooperation with WLA Finland, in Helsinki ▪ One year program with ca 20 evening seminars ▪ Different aspects of leadership
– Strategic planning – Personnel management – Board work – Personal development etc
▪ Women directors and experts are trainers for free ▪ Sponsors ▪ Model and experiences could be used in other countries
SLIDE 8
Women Dinner – Corporate Governance
▪ DJB organises on 18 October in Berlin ▪ High level event to draw attention to promoting women’s particapation in board work ▪ A comparative article to be published
SLIDE 9
Board Candidate Data Base
▪ Norway
– Women Lawyers Justitias Døtre – www.kvinneristyret.no
SLIDE 10 Women as board members
▪ Europe’s top 300 companies – Study by European Professional Women’s Network www.EuropeanPWN.net: ▪ Norway 28.8 % ▪ Sweden 22.8 % ▪ Finland 20 % ▪ Denmark 17.9 % ▪ UK 11.4 % ▪ France 7.6 % ▪ Germany 7.2 % (Supervisory boards with employee representation, not executive boards) ▪ The Netherlands 6.5 % ▪ Switzerland 5.9 % ▪ Belgium 5.8 % ▪ Greece 4.4 % ▪ Spain 4.1 % ▪ Italy 1.9 % ▪ Portugal 0 % ▪ USA and Canada are ahead of Europe, Norway leads the world
SLIDE 11
New codes and recommendations
▪ OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, 2004 ▪ Combined Code, 2006 (UK) ▪ Le gouvernement d’entreprise des sociétés cotées 2003 (F) ▪ Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, 2006 ▪ Greece 2001 ▪ Austrian Code 2002 ▪ Italy 2002 ▪ Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (USA) ▪ Finland, Recommendation for Listed Companies, 2003 (unlisted 2006) ▪ Netherlands 2003 ▪ Belgian Code 2004 ▪ Iceland, Recommendation 2004 ▪ Swedish Code 2004 ▪ Japan 2004 ▪ Norway 2004 ▪ Spain 2006 ▪ Denmark 2005 ▪ www.ecgi.org
SLIDE 12 Gender equality and CG codes
▪ codes don’t include gender equality ▪ 3 exceptions
– Finnish code of 2003 – “It is imperative for the board work and its effective functioning that the board is composed of directors with versatile and mutually complementing capabilities and
- skills. The age mix and the proportion of both
sexes can also be taken into account in the composition of the board.”
SLIDE 13
Gender Equality and CG codes
▪ Swedish Code of 2004
– 3.2.1 An equal gender distribution on the board is to be an aim.
▪ Spain 2006 (also legislation 2007) ▪ UK: Higgs report includes the issue, but the Combined Code of 2006 does not
SLIDE 14 Women’s board membership and legislation
▪ Norwegian law
– 33-50 % of board members of listed and state-owned companies shall be women by 2005
- Sanction: Company dissolution
– Alleviated by law amendment in December 2006
- As of 1 January, 2006 for new listed companies
- By the end of 2007 existing companies must
- conform. 83 % of publicly owned companies
complied by 1.2007
- State-owned companies: target fulfilled
SLIDE 15
Swedish experience
▪ Minister Winberg threathened with quotas in 2002
– Women’s membership doubled in 2003
▪ Government target: quotas to be set unless 25 % of board members voluntarily women
– Report including law proposal 2006
▪ New government announced: no law on quotas
– Women’s number going down?
▪ Annual Accounts Act 2004: Annual report to include management’s distribution of gender ▪ State companies: target 40 %, achieved
SLIDE 16 Denmark – 17,9 % women on board – State majority owned companies – law on quota 2000
- Balanced participation according to possibilities
SLIDE 17 Finland
▪ Government promotes women’s board membership in state-owned companies, targets achieved 2006 (40 %)
– Prime Minister’s and Gender Equality Minister’s letter to listed companies 25 August 2006 – Government program
▪ Financial newspapers and magazines follow the development eagerly
- Annual Women Leaders issue and Gala of Talouselämä
Magazine (Financial Life)
