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Skirting the Glass Ceiling: Norway Mandates Gender Diversity
Date: 08/13/2008 TPR has formed a strategic alliance with The Institute for Corporate Productivity, i4cp, allowing us to publish on our site the compete weekly research report in their TrendWatcher initiative, as well as record a weekly interview with the lead author of the article. Joining us today from St Petersburg, FL, is Lorrie Lykins, Managing Editor of i4cp. Lorrie is the lead author of this weeks??? article titled Skirting the Glass Ceiling: Mandating Gender Diversity. TrendWatcher examines the business and social trends that are likely to influence the future of work. This trend is sparking a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of such laws and, more practically, about whether more countries will follow suit in coming years. Norway is blazing the trail. It passed legislation in 2003 mandating that public companies address gender imbalance on their boards with the requirement that women hold 40% of the board seats by 2008. Companies that failed to comply faced sanctions ranging from fines to closure. At the time, 6% of directors in Norway were women (Wachter, 2008). The legislation gave companies five years to comply with the quotas and, despite rigorous and vocal opposition at the outset, business has generally complied. Five years later, Norway now boasts unprecedented board representation for women - 44.2% in 2008 (Catalyst, 2008). But the road has not been smooth. Opponents of the mandated quota were incensed that long-seated men would be jettisoned to make room for less qualified women, which, they argued, would damage the country's ability to be competitive in the world market and prevent foreign companies from doing business in Norway (Dearlove & Crainer, 2002). The opposition included the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), which issued a statement that the quota proposal was an attack on "the basic principle for shareholder democracy - namely that the owners of a company should be free to elect its board" (Madslien, 2002). Foneshow does not charge for this service, but standard or other charges may apply from your carrier. Please check your plan to make sure. To stop receiving text messages at anytime, text STOP to 44636. For help, text HELP to 44636 or email support@4info.net. |
