European Parliament sends wake up call to business on gender equality

The European Parliament sent a strong message to business today with a call for a 40 per cent target of women on boards.

Arlene McCarthy MEP, vice president of the economic affairs committee responsible for gender, said: “It makes good business sense to have more women on company boards.”



“A McKinsey and Company report found companies with gender-balanced executive committees outperformed companies with all male committees with a 56% higher operating profit.”

“A Leeds University Business School study showed that having at least one female director on the board appears to cut a company’s chances of going bust by 20% and that having two or three female directors lowered the chances of bankruptcy even further.”

Arlene McCarthy MEP added: “Quotas alone won’t get more women on boards. We now need a stronger focus on taking action to deliver change. Companies need to invest in women making it easier for them to continue in corporate life by providing more training, better support networks and mentoring schemes to help get their female employees board ready.“

“If we are to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness, combat the current economic crisis and create sustainable growth, all talents must be utilised in full and all voices must be heard when making decisions shaping the future of our economy.”

“We think national governments should have a bigger say on companies that don’t abide by the rules. Legislation should be a last resort but companies should be in no doubt of our determination to achieve equality.”


For more detailed figures on the number of women on the boards of the UK’s leading companies, see Board Watch: http://www.boardsforum.co.uk/boardwatch.html

Impressive rack ;-)

Good idea. No company wants to go bust!

By designating quotas, in the name of improving equality & diversity, creates divides rather than bridging them.

Whatever happened to recruiting the best person(s) for the job?

Originally Posted by Commentator

By designating quotas, in the name of improving equality & diversity, creates divides rather than bridging them.

Whatever happened to recruiting the best person(s) for the job?

nail on the head me thinks

Can you smell something Arlene?

No, neither can I, get the tea on luv.

UKIP are opposed to this patronising of women. Women should - and can - achieve high level positions on merit and not because of quotas.

they look gr8 two me ????????

Originally Posted by duncet

UKIP are opposed to this patronising of women. Women should - and can - achieve high level positions on merit and not because of quotas.

........or by displaying their assets.