European Board Diversity Analysis 2010 ‒ Is it getting easier to find women on European boards? (Egon Zehnder)

With mounting pressure for a better gender balance on boards and senior executive teams, the number of women directors in many European countries is increasing steadily, but slowly. These are the results of recent research into female directors at a total of 340 companies across 17 European countries conducted by Egon Zehnder International.

The analysis looks at how many women are engaged with board work in Europe, what is the nature of their engagement – executive roles vs. non-executive roles, leadership roles on the board or within committees – and whether female participation on boards has increased or decreased over time. The research also examines the backgrounds of directors in terms of international versus local profiles.

It reveals that female representation on boards is currently 12.2% on average, and ranges from 3.5% in Portugal to 31.9% in Norway. Similar research was carried out in 2008, 2006 and 2004 in cooperation with the European Professional Women’s Network and is used to identify emerging trends.

The original document can be downloaded below.

http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/wrgb4v1t

(click Download Original Asset at the lower right)

The Board Director Training Institute (BDTI) is a "public interest" nonprofit in Japan dedicated to training about directorship, corporate governance, and related management techniques. It is certified by the Japanese government to conduct these activities as a regulated nonprofit. Read a summary about BDTI here, and see a menu of its services for both corporations and investors here.

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