It’s time to take stock again as International Women’s Day approaches. Are we still moving towards parity? Is France at the top of the class? Two studies published Thursday – one by Equileap and the other by Ethics & Boards – report on the evolution of the place of women in the management bodies of large companies.
France, champion of gender diversity on boards of directors
In the boards of directors of the 120 largest French companies (SBF120), 46.3% of the members will be women in 2023. France is close to perfect diversity and occupies the first position in the ranking ahead of the Netherlands, Italy or Denmark , according to data from Ethics and Advice.
If France shines among its peers, we can still note that the rebalancing is happening more and more slowly in recent years. In 2022, just over 46% of the directors were already female directors, and they represented 42% of the workforce in 2017.
In the executive committees, on the other hand, the figures are still less good and France is losing leadership even if it continues to be a good student. Women will make up 26.4% of its committee members by 2023. It is surpassed by the Nordic countries in particular, but also by the United States and the United Kingdom, again according to Ethics & Boards.
There are still shadows on the French board, such as the number of women presidents: only 8%, underlines the Equileap barometer.
Is France on the way to the “Rixain” law?
The Equileap study adds a icing on the cake to research on French diversity by also placing it in first position in terms of gender equality in companies, government bodies or not. Its ranking covers 3,787 companies listed on the stock market and is based on 19 equity criteria such as the pay gap, parental leave or sexual harassment.
A fairly good general assessment that could allow France to fall on the nails of the “Rixain” law that recently came into force. The law imposes a minimum quota of women in the governing bodies of companies with 1,000 or more employees as of 2026.
These companies must since last year publish the differences in representation between men and women among their leaders and “then they must have at least 30% women executives and members of government bodies as of March 1, 2026 and then 40 % as of March 1, 2029, says the law.
A new parity target is on the horizon while France is already in compliance with the 2011 “Copé-Zimmermann” law that required at least 40% women on boards of directors and supervisors.
Les Echos and Challenges respectively exclusively published the results from Equileap and Ethics & Boards on Thursday morning.
Source: BFM TV
