According to reports over the weekend, the Davies Review into Women on Boards will not recommended quotas for female representation.
The report, which is due to be published on the 24th of February, may put the onus on Chairmen to justify why their boards are not as diverse as the general population and empower shareholders to demand diversity as part of good corporate governance.
The report comes at a time when the issue is being looked at by a number of governments, agencies and the media.
Women on boards grabbed headlines this week thanks to comments made by Deutsche Bank’s Josef Ackermann’s who commented that having women on company boards would make them more feminine, more “colourful and more beautiful.”
Author of Your Loss, a book about how lack of female talent at board level can impact a company’s bottom line, Christina Ioannidis said:
Mr Ackermann actually might have been reported for the sensational part of his quote, but he also said that having more women on boards is good for the “bottom line”. This is something that we believe Lord Davies will also argue in his report.
From Australia to Norway, there is evidence to suggest that the more closely company’s executives match the diversity in the community and their markets, the better the company can perform, not to mention stemming losses associated with women leaving the business.
The EU markets commissioner, Michel Barnier said last week:
“It’s not only a question of fairness. The presence of women in the leadership of a country or a region or a business is a question of good governance for me.”
More about the Davies Review into Women on Boards.
Read how women on boards helps the bottom line. Buy Your Loss
