Zut! French say business needs the feminine touch

Zut! French say business needs the feminine touch

The French Government has delivered an ”electro-shock” to the corporate world, with President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party presenting a bill demanding women make up 50 per cent of all board seats by 2015.

If passed, French company boards will need at least 20 per cent female representation within 18 months.

The French proposal comes as failed Australian gender equity legislation is under Federal Government review, and calls for gender quotas grow louder.

Women account for only 8.3 per cent of company directors across the top-200 ASX-listed companies and Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says quotas have become ”a very hot issue”.

”While women are kept out of the decision-making of the country in economic life they will be marginalised across all other sectors,” she said.

Ms Broderick wants to see 40 per cent of board members female within five years, but says companies should be given the opportunity to set their own targets – and meet them – before the Government considers imposing quotas.

Please see The Age for the full article.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under E-gender. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.