European Parliament 'sends wake-up call to business on gender equality'

According to Labour, the European Parliament sent a strong message to business on 20 November with a call for a 40% target of women on boards.

MEP Mary Honeyball, Labour's spokesperson on women and equality, said: "Today's vote is a step forward in the battle for boardroom equality. At the moment, less than a fifth of FTSE 100 directors are women, while among FTSE 250 companies, the figure is only 15%.

"We need to be proactive about getting women into economic decision-making positions. Diversity at the top of businesses brings better leadership and a more rounded, innovative approach."

MEP Arlene McCarthy, vice president of the economic affairs committee responsible for gender, said: "It makes good business sense to have more women on company boards.

"A McKinsey and Company report found companies with gender-balanced executive committees outperformed companies with all male committees with a 56% higher operating profit.

"A Leeds University Business School study showed that having at least one female director on the board appears to cut a company's chances of going bust by 20% and that having two or three female directors lowered the chances of bankruptcy even further."

McCarthy added: "Quotas alone won’t get more women on boards. We now need a stronger focus on taking action to deliver change. Companies need to invest in women making it easier for them to continue in corporate life by providing more training, better support networks and mentoring schemes to help get their female employees board ready.

"If we are to strengthen the EU's competitiveness, combat the current economic crisis and create sustainable growth, all talents must be utilised in full and all voices must be heard when making decisions shaping the future of our economy.

"We think national governments should have a bigger say on companies that don't abide by the rules. Legislation should be a last resort but companies should be in no doubt of our determination to achieve equality."

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