Gender quotas on boards

BusinessEurope has always been a supporter of initiatives that aim to increase the number of women at all company levels.

We believe that voluntary mechanisms are the best way to ensure that more women assume leadership positions, at board or managerial level. Compared to quotas fixed by law, voluntary measures respect sector and company-specific circumstances (type, size, owner structure, operations and phase of development). They are also a more pragmatic way to address the underlying reasons preventing more women being in boards.

When it comes to the optimal composition of corporate boards the aim should be diversity, with gender being just one of the possible elements.

Last updated: 4 July 2016