Sabine Siebold

(Reuters) – Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission is now pushing for increased women’s representation in company boards. She’s trying to break down European legislation that would allow women to a quota. This has been blocked since 2012.

Germany was one of the EU members that opposed a quota. The argument was at the national level. However, the Berlin government is taking an entirely new look at the issue.

Below are facts and figures about the proposal legislation as well as the status of affairs in the bloc with respect to gender balance within top corporate positions.

WHAT IS THE LEGAL PROPOSAL FOR THE TABLE?

The European Union executive suggested that at least 40% non-executive boards seats be filled by women in 2012 listed companies. If two equally qualified candidates apply for the same job, the goal would be achieved by giving preference to the candidate who is under-represented.

Although the proposed directive doesn’t include sanctions, companies that fail to achieve the goal will have to give reasons and outline the steps they plan to take in order to do so.

This directive is not applicable to companies with less than 250 employees, or unlisted businesses. The directive would be applicable to approximately 2,300 EU-based companies, according estimates.

What’s the deal with this LEGISLATION?

The directive is supported by a majority of 18 EU member countries, however that does not mean the total majority required to approve it.

Danemark, Estonia, Croatia Hungary Hungary, Poland Poland, Sweden, Slovakia and the Netherlands have all resisted the proposal.

Germany supported this group under former Chancellor Angela Merkel. But the new government has said it would take an entirely different approach to the matter. Experts believe that Berlin would abandon its opposition and tip the scales in favor of legislation.

NATIONAL QUOTAS SOFAR

The eight EU member countries that have established mandatory gender quotas in their national laws for companies listed on the stock exchanges (Belgium and France), include Portugal, Greece, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria. Portugal has also adopted a national gender quota.

Ten countries have adopted a more relaxed approach using a variety of initiatives and measures (Denmark Estonia, Ireland Spain Luxembourg Poland Slovenia Romania Slovenia Finland Sweden).

Nine countries (Bulgaria and the Czech Republic as well as Croatia, Cyprus Latvia, Lithuanian, Malta, Slovakia, Slovakia, Croatia, Cyprus and Latvia) have yet to take substantial actions.

FRONTRUNNER, FRANCE

According to EIGE, France is the country with the highest proportion of women on the boards of large listed companies. This compares to the EU average of 30.6%.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS – THE EFFECT

The share of women in company boards rose from an equal level, around 13% across EU member countries in 2011, to a higher point today

In countries where laws were passed to encourage more women to high-ranking positions, this figure is up to 36.4%

To 30.3% for countries that have soft measures

The EIGE estimates that 16.6% of countries have yet to take any actions.