Diversity Case Studies Europe

By Claire Braund, Executive Director Women on Boards

France

Key statistics

• 16 per cent of women on the boards of the CAC 40*, up from 11 per cent in 2009 and 9 per cent in 2008
• 5 of the CAC 40 do not have a woman on their board
• 45 per cent have only one woman on the board
• In 2010 with legislation pending, half of all board appointments to CAC 40 boards were women.

* The CAC 40 is a benchmark French stock market index representing  a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant values among the 100 highest market caps on the Paris Bourse (now Euronext Paris).

Legislation

Legislation is before the Senate to require companies to have 20 per cent female directors in three years and 40 per cent by 2016. The penalty for failure to comply is that any further nominations would be void.

There is general public approval for the legislation which has been helped along by the Global Financial Crisis and the perception that there is something wrong with company governance and a need for change. In France the CEO and Chair’s position are held by the same person and the board is often made up of friends and colleagues. The perception is that this relationship is tool close and there is a need for fresh perspectives which women would assist to bring.

Report by Anne Bouverot
Executive VP Mobile Services, France Telecom Orange and Non Executive Director

A number of initiatives have been launched, including a mentoring program (BoardWomenPartners) inspired by the FTSE100 Cross Company Mentoring Program. In this program chairs put forward one or more high potential women from a company and agree to mentor woman from another company. In this was chairs get to know potential candidates and feel more comfortable with them.

Anne Bouverot was part of the FTSE100 mentoring program and had Sir Philip Hampton (Chair Royal Bank of Scotland) as her mentor. She said it was extremely helpful to have the mentoring relationship which assisted her to understand what it is like to be on a board.

“You do not have the same tools and actions you do as an executive...and you have to understand how to exert influence and what you can do and not do – and how to have discussions with the company.”

How does your voice get heard on the board and when do you make your presence felt were other topics Anne canvassed with her mentor. Her advice is to prepare questions about specific subjects that you will speak on and answer – in other words develop your area of expertise on which you can be called to assist the board.

She stressed that the legislation does not mean someone is going to just give you a call because you are a woman, but it is important for women to understand what it means to be a on a board, if they want to take the position as it takes time and energy.

Anne is now on the board of major insurance company, Groupama, in France as a female and international experience from the consumer retail sector. She is also on the board of a spin off from the Accor Hotel group operating in pre pay vouchers for services which will be delivered via mobile phones.

Anne believes the reason chairs are uneasy with legislation is that that a board is a small group of people who know each other. They meet every month and have to work well together so chairs need to make sure the new person works well and blends in.

The Netherlands

Key statistics

• 8.1 per cent of board members of 99 listed companies are female
• Two tiered system of boards – supervisory and executive

Legislation

Legislation is changing – pending approval for 30 per cent female board members 2016. Without action targets will not be met until at least 2030. Comply or explain. Public pressure is mounting.

Report by Pauline van der Meer Mohr
President of the Executive Board at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Non-executive Director

Pauline is a former executive at Shell and ABN Ambro who after 20 plus years of international industry/services experience, joined Erasmus University Rotterdam as President of the Executive Board.  She is also a director of ASML, the world's leading provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry.

Pauline painted a gloomy picture of The Netherlands in relation to gender diversity, saying business refused to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of the benefits for women on boards, instead promoting the opposite view – that there is a negative correlation between women on boards and company performance.

“The establishment is using this argument to underlie its own convictions – they don’t want to hear the business case,” she said.

“So we rank down there with Japan and Botswana in terms of progress on gender diversity.”

There is also a strong conservative movement among women in The Netherlands and a convenient argument not to make progress is to say we don’t need a quota.

According to Pauline the definition of board ready women in The Netherlands is ‘former CEOs or have been on large boards.’ If they don’t meet this standard they are seen as second rate and not part of the inner circle, however, the 30 per cent of men who don’t conform are ‘trusted in a different way’.

“The perception is that diversity comes at a cost – board cohesion goes down as it is not a boys group.”

Pauline also reported that childcare provision in The Netherlands is in the stone age with no-after school care arrangements once your child starts school. This means lots of part time work and low labour force participation for women.

Pauline told a story from her time in Shell, when executives were told we should not send females ex-pats of child bearing age to Norway as they will have children and not work. It’s funny, but there was a serious undertone and raises the issue of a level playing field and how does this impact competitive position of large multi-national.

She counselled the conference delegates to choose their boards wisely – “will they see you for who you are or will they see you as being a woman on the board. Don’t leap at the first option and don’t leap too soon. Ask is this company right for me. Is it too small? Should I go for a larger company – there is an argument for not taking too long to grow into it. There is no reason a woman should do six smaller boards before she is ready for major board game.”

Formerly a non-believer, Pauline now advocates that quotas are the only means of cutting through the inertia. They are also a tool for making female talent visible and eligible for the top jobs.