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New Europe - Old Values? pp 77–95Cite as

Getting Women on Company Boards in the EU: A Tale of Power-Balancing in Three Acts

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Part of the book series: Europeanization and Globalization ((EAG,volume 1))

Abstract

Female under-representation on company boards has remained a persisting problem in most EU countries. Different regulatory and enforcement approaches have been taken across the EU to deal with it, ranging from self- and co-regulatory regimes to very stringent public law quota rules. The adoption of a common European approach has appeared complicated because of the different power plays occurring within the national and European Union context in this field. In three acts, this contribution will tell this power-balancing tale. The first act sets the scene by focussing on the existing inequalities between men and women on company boards, the second act concentrates on the legal tensions arising between public and private actors when it comes to finding an appropriate regulatory response to deal with this problem and the third act addresses the tensions that occur between the EU and the Member States in this regard. This will lay bare the dilemmas the Commission has faced in proposing a European response to the problem in the form of a directive proposal and how it has sought to accommodate the different national approaches.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In doing so, this article draws on a number of previous publications, including in particular Senden and Visser (2013) and Senden (2014a, b).

  2. 2.

    See Senden (2014a).

  3. 3.

    It must be noted that the focus here is on the position of women on non-executive (or supervisory) company boards, and not on executive (or management) boards.

  4. 4.

    See http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/database/business-finance/supervisory-board-board-directors/index_en.htm (last accessed April 7, 2015). As this source indicates, ‘Data cover all members of the highest decision-making body in each company (i.e. chairperson, non-executive directors, senior executives and employee representatives, where present). The highest decision-making body is usually termed the supervisory board (in case of a two-tier governance system) or the board of directors (in a unitary system)’.

  5. 5.

    As regards France, see Masselot and Maymont (2014).

  6. 6.

    Armstrong and Walby (2012), p. 12.

  7. 7.

    See on the effectiveness of various regulatory approaches Senden (2014a), pp. 18–21.

  8. 8.

    See Hofstede et al. (2010).

  9. 9.

    According to the categorisation made by Esping-Anderson (1990).

  10. 10.

    Heidenreich (2012).

  11. 11.

    In this sense, the Swedish Corporate Governance Board, ‘Questions and answers regarding the Swedish Corporate Governance Board’s efforts to improve gender balance on the boards of listed companies’, document dating from 30 May 2014, http://www.corporategovernanceboard.se/media/64821/gender%20qa.pdf (last accessed on April 7, 2015).

  12. 12.

    See Lendvai (2011) and Potucek (2008).

  13. 13.

    In this sense, Lendvai (2011).

  14. 14.

    Davidson and Burke (2011).

  15. 15.

    See Terjesen et al. (2009).

  16. 16.

    Cf. O’Neil et al. (2008) and Vinnicombe et al. (2008).

  17. 17.

    The so-called behavioural double bind, as described by Oakley (2000), p. 324: ‘A double-bind is a behavioral norm that creates a situation where a person cannot win no matter what she does’.

  18. 18.

    Cf. Oakley (2000).

  19. 19.

    See the Special Eurobarometer 376 on Women in decision-making positions held in September 2011 in the EU; http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_376_en.pdf (last accessed April 7, 2015); almost nine out of ten respondents hold this view.

  20. 20.

    See the Special Eurobarometer 376 on Women in decision-making positions held in September 2011 in the EU; http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_376_en.pdf (last accessed April 7, 2015), pp. 15–17.

  21. 21.

    Even if one must note that causation, positive or negative, has so far not been unequivocally proven; see also on this Senden and Visser (2013), p. 21.

  22. 22.

    See e.g. ‘Women in Mature Economies Control Household Spending’, available at http://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/women-in-mature-economies-control-household-spending-12931/ (last accessed April 7, 2015).

  23. 23.

    See Senden (2014b).

  24. 24.

    See, inter alia, Kovalainen and Hart (2014), p. 112.

  25. 25.

    See The platform for EU Interparliamentary Exchange for the different views expressed on the proposal by national parliaments: http://www.ipex.eu/IPEXL-WEB/result/simple.do?text=gender+balance&start= (last accessed April 7, 2015).

  26. 26.

    I will come back in more detail on the issue of the horizontal effect of fundamental rights under Act Three.

  27. 27.

    See Waas (2014), p. 131.

  28. 28.

    See Selanec and Senden (2013), pp. 54–55.

  29. 29.

    For a detailed account of the political controversies involved, see Lambrecht (2014).

  30. 30.

    See Senden (2014a).

  31. 31.

    COM(2012)614 final, 14.11.2012, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/womenonboards/directive_quotas_en.pdf (last accessed April 7, 2015).

  32. 32.

    It must be noted that these requirements already ensue from the Court’s case law and as such can be seen as a codification thereof. See Case C-407/98, Abrahamsson, ECLI:EU:C:2000:367, paras. 49–50.

  33. 33.

    See respectively Articles 4 and 2 TFEU.

  34. 34.

    In Case 43/75, Defrenne, ECLI:EU:C:1976:56 and Case C-50/96, Schröder, ECLI:EU:C:2000:72, para 57, in which the Court held that ‘the economic aim pursued by Article 119 of the Treaty, namely the elimination of distortions of competition between undertakings established in different Member States, is secondary to the social aim pursued by the same provision, which constitutes the expression of a fundamental human right’ [emphasis added, LS]. Articles 2 and 3(3) TEU, 8 and 10 TFEU and 21 and 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights now also confirm the equality of women and men as a fundamental principle of Union law.

  35. 35.

    This goes for Directive 75/117 (equal pay): Art. 100 EEC; Directive 76/207 (equal treatment in employment): Art. 235 EEC; Directive 79/7 (statutory social security): Art. 235 EEC; Directive 86/378 (occupational social security): Art. 100 and 235 EEC; Directive 86/613 (independent workers): Art. 100 and 235 EEC; Directive 96/97 (Barber directive): Art. 100 EEC.

  36. 36.

    In this sense, Howard (2008), p. 171.

  37. 37.

    Howard (2008), p. 172.

  38. 38.

    Case C-409/95, Marschall, ECLI:EU:C:1997:533, para. 29.

  39. 39.

    Case C-409/95, Marschall, ECLI:EU:C:1997:533, para. 31.

  40. 40.

    See Case C-450/93, Kalanke, ECLI:EU:C:1995:322, Case C-409/95, Marschall, ECLI:EU:C:1997:533 and Case C-407/98, Abrahamsson, ECLI:EU:C:2000:367, paras. 49–50.

  41. 41.

    Case C-232/09, Danosa, ECLI:EU:C:2010:674.

  42. 42.

    Case 43/75, Defrenne, ECLI:EU:C:1976:56, para 39. Later confirmed e.g. in Case C-127/92, Enderby, ECLI:EU:C:1993:859, paras. 20–23 and Case C-33/89, Kowalska, ECLI:EU:C:1990:265, paras. 17–20.

  43. 43.

    It reads in full: ‘1. There shall be no direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of sex in the public or private sectors, including public bodies, in relation to:

    (a) conditions for access to employment, to self-employment or to occupation, including selection criteria and recruitment conditions, whatever the branch of activity and at all levels of the professional hierarchy, including promotion’; [emphasis added].

  44. 44.

    See Council Recommendation 84/635/EEC of 13 December 1984 on the promotion of positive action for women, OJ 1984, L331/34; and Council Recommendation 96/694/EC of 2 December 1996 on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process, OJ 1996, L319/11.

  45. 45.

    See Selanec and Senden (2013) and Senden (2014a, b).

  46. 46.

    Articles 4(7), 7 and 8(3).

  47. 47.

    Article 8(3) in conjunction with Article 9(2).

  48. 48.

    For listed companies that are public undertakings, the time limit is set at 1 January 2018.

  49. 49.

    See, inter alia, Case 14/83, Von Colson and Kamann, ECLI:EU:C:1984:153, and for a detailed account of this case law, Tobler (2005).

  50. 50.

    See Protocols 1 and 2 attached to the Treaty of Lisbon.

  51. 51.

    See in particular Articles 2, 3 and 6 TEU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Department of Law, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Linda Senden

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  1. Linda Senden
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Correspondence to Linda Senden .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jean Monnet Department of European Public Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Nada Bodiroga-Vukobrat

  2. Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Siniša Rodin

  3. University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung und Finanzen Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany

    Gerald Sander

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Senden, L. (2016). Getting Women on Company Boards in the EU: A Tale of Power-Balancing in Three Acts. In: Bodiroga-Vukobrat, N., Rodin, S., Sander, G. (eds) New Europe - Old Values?. Europeanization and Globalization, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02213-0_5

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