In 'Skirting the issue' in this week's Schumpter business column in the Economist, the effect of imposing women onto boardrooms is examined and concludes this tackles a symptom of discrimination, not the cause.
Women hold fewer than 15% of positions on boards in most countries, except in Scandinavia and Norway in particular where in 2005 the government gave listed companies two years to increase the proportion by 40% or risk closure. Cranfield University produce a yearly report of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies, which you can find here.
One potential downside to such engineering of social justice was that Norwegian boards might suffer from the loss of corporate experience that the men being replaced would leave. While the wheels haven't dropped off in Scandinavia, it has now become increasingly difficult for these countries to maintain the balance on the boards because the pool of female candidates has been drained.
Schumpter concludes that the best way to increase the number of women on boards is to ensure that more women gain the right experience further down the corporate hierarchy. For instance, training as a chartered certified accountant would be one good step onto that corporate ladder for many women.
But then ACCA would agree with that, wouldn't we?
Women hold fewer than 15% of positions on boards in most countries, except in Scandinavia and Norway in particular where in 2005 the government gave listed companies two years to increase the proportion by 40% or risk closure. Cranfield University produce a yearly report of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies, which you can find here.
One potential downside to such engineering of social justice was that Norwegian boards might suffer from the loss of corporate experience that the men being replaced would leave. While the wheels haven't dropped off in Scandinavia, it has now become increasingly difficult for these countries to maintain the balance on the boards because the pool of female candidates has been drained.
Schumpter concludes that the best way to increase the number of women on boards is to ensure that more women gain the right experience further down the corporate hierarchy. For instance, training as a chartered certified accountant would be one good step onto that corporate ladder for many women.
But then ACCA would agree with that, wouldn't we?
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