Figures concerning women on boards of listed companies

The new figures on women as board members of large listed countries in the EU show a positive trend: their share has increased from 11.9% in 2010 to 20.2% in 2014. In most countries, the efforts taken show results and more women are part of boards.

With 32.4%, France has the highest percentage of women as board members, being closest to the 40% target set for 2020. Next in line are Latvia (31.7%) and Finland (29.2%). With 20.2%, Belgium is still above the EU average. On the other end of the list are Estonia, Czech Republic and Malta with 7% or less of board members being women.

Czech Republic is also one of the four countries where the share did not increase but even went down by 8.7 points. This member state, as well as Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, does not seem to undertake enough measures to promote the promotion of women as board members. In order for the EU to reach its goal, however, improvements in some countries are not enough but all countries have to contribute to an increase in the share.

The Directive officially establishing the 40% goal has been approved by the Parliament in November 2013 and is currently still under discussion in the Council, waiting for the member states' approval.