The Institute for the Equality of Women and Men (IGVM) wants the quota law to also apply to company executive committees. According to the public institution, women are still underrepresented in it.
The quota law came into effect in mid-2011. She dictates that at least one third of the boards of directors of publicly traded companies and autonomous public companies must be made up of women.
According to an analysis by the IGVM, the number of women on boards quadrupled between 2008 and 2020 from 8.3 percent to 34.1 percent. “The binding approach of the quota law works”, concludes the Institute. It is striking that only 5.6 percent of chairmen in 2020 were women.
The IGVM also examined the management committees of the companies involved, which are not covered by the quota law. Women were significantly less represented there in 2020 at 14.8 percent. But 4.5 percent of CEOs that year were women.
Liesbet Stevens, deputy director of the IGVM, believes that the law should therefore also apply at the level of the management committees. “Quotas are not a measure that is welcome, but they do allow us to act quickly in a situation of great inequality,” she says. A European directive that is being prepared could help with this.
State Secretary for Gender Equality Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) agrees with Stevens. “Ten years ago, Belgium went in the right direction for greater equality between women and men, and today we are among the best in the European class,” she responds. “The figures show that we must now focus our efforts on the feminisation of the executive committees.”
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