The European Commission is taking an active role in promoting women in decision making positions. It has set up a website on women and men in decision-making (http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/women_men_stats/index_en.htm).
On the 6th of March 2007 the Commission organised the Seminar WOMEN IN DECISION MAKING POSITIONS, Sharing experiences and good practice. Six European Commissioners participated in this event. EWLA was represented by its President Leena Linnainmaa, Past President Elisabeth Müller and board member Sophia Spiliotopoulos.
EWLA prepared a statement for the seminar. Only one other NGO had prepared a statement for this occasion although some other participating NGO’s have major funding. In the statement
EWLA
1. Urges the Commission to promote a balanced participation of women and men on the boards of listed companies and other executive positions by issuing a specific Recommendation on this matter including:
o national programs which include concrete actions, such as leadership training programs for women, promoting women directors’ networking, transparent recruitment policies, flexible working conditions, statistics disaggregated by sex, research on the glass-ceiling phenomenon, and follow-up procedures.
o a duty for companies to give information on gender distribution in management in the annual accounts of companies with more than 50 employees. This information should include board members, managing director and other members of a company’s management. This positive measure would contribute to a better distribution of women and men in leading positions without noteworthy costs to companies.
o annual reports on action and results.
o creation of a high-level government and private sector forum to discuss regularly actions for promoting women in decision-making positions.
The Commission should assess the effectiveness of its Recommendation after a period of no more than five years with a view to recommending further measures if it finds that it has not been implemented.
2. Suggests that the Commission launches an annual prize for employers who take innovative action in promoting women’s advancement. Candidates should have more than the average number of women in managerial and highest executive positions, including board membership. The best practices should be published and promoted as models for other employers.
The full text of the statement can be found at www.ewla.org. We disseminated the statement actively at seminar. Leena Linnainmaa, President of EWLA, intervened in the discussion a couple of times. EWLA’s suggestion of launching an annual prize for employers taking innovative action in promoting women’s advancement was welcomed and maybe we’ll see in the future that the Commission launches a diversity prize for employers.