Tackling the

gender pay gap

Justice

in the European Union

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Table of contents
What is the gender pay gap? What are the main causes of the gender pay gap? What are the benefits of closing the gender pay gap? Map of the gender pay gap in EU-28  What is the EU doing?  How to close the gender pay gap at national level? References and further information 2 5 8 10 13 17 23

What is the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap is the difference between mens and womens pay, based on the average difference in gross hourly earnings of all employees. On average, women in the EU earn around 16% less per hour than men1. The gender pay gap varies across Europe. It is below 10% in Slovenia, Malta, Poland, Italy, Luxembourg and Romania, but wider than 20% in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Estonia2. Although the overall gender pay gap has narrowed in the last decade, in some countries the national gender pay gap has actually been widening (Hungary, Portugal). The gender pay gap exists even though women do better at school and university than men. On average, in 2012, 83% of young women reach at least upper secondary school education in the EU, compared to 77.6% of men. Women also represent 60% of university graduates in the EU3.

What is the effect of the gender pay gap over alifetime?

The impact of the gender pay gap means that women earn less over their lifetimes; this results in lower pensions and arisk of poverty in old age. In 2012, 21.7% of women aged 65 and over were at risk of poverty, compared to 16.3% of men4.

What are the differences between how women and men work?
The overall employment rate for women in Europe is around 63%, compared to around 75% for men aged 20-64. Women are the majority of part-time workers in the EU, with 34.9% of women working part-time against only 8.6% of men5. This has anegative impact on career progression, training opportunities, pension rights and unemployment benefits, all of which affect the gender pay gap.

How is the gender pay gap measured in the EU?

The gender pay gap is shown as apercentage of mens earnings and represents the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female employees. Gross earnings are wages or salaries paid directly to an employee before any deductions for income tax and social security contributions are made. In the EU, data on the gender pay gap is based on the methodology of the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES). In the EU, the gender pay gap is referred to officially as the unadjusted gender pay gap, as it does not take into account all of the factors that impact on the gender pay gap, such as differences in education, labour market experience, hours worked, type of job, etc. Using hourly pay as abasis for calculating the gender pay gap can also mask specific differences in pay that go unrecorded, for example, bonus payments, performance-related pay or seasonal payments.

BOY OR GIRL, EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES?

These babies are born with equal opportunities, but the educational and career expectations for boys and girls are different. By the time they grow up, the boy will be earning on average around 16% more than the girl.

What are the main causes of the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap is acomplex issue caused by anumber of interrelated factors. It still exists today due to wider gender inequalities across the economy and in society.

Discrimination in the workplace

In certain cases, women and men are not paid the same wages although they carry out the same work or work of equal value. This may be the result of so-called direct discrimination where women are simply treated less favourably than men. Or it may be due to apolicy or practice that, although not designed to discriminate, results in unequal treatment between men and women. Both types of discrimination are prohibited under EU law, but are unfortunately still present in some workplaces.

Different jobs, different sectors

Women and men carry out different jobs and often work in different sectors. In the health sector, women make up 80% of all workers. Sectors where women are in the majority have lower wages than those dominated by men. As women bear the burden of unpaid work and childcare they tend to work shorter hours. They also generally work in sectors and occupations where jobs are compatible with their family responsibilities. As aresult, women are more likely to work part-time, be employed in low-paid jobs and not take on management positions.

Workplace practices and pay systems

Women and men are affected by different workplace practices, such as access to career development and training. Different methods of rewarding employees (for example, through bonuses, allowances and performance-related pay), as well as the actual structure of pay systems, can result in different rates of pay for female and male workers. Often this discrimination arises because of historical and cultural factors that impact on how wages are set. This so-called glass ceiling prevents women from reaching the highest paid positions.

Undervaluing of womens work and skills

Womens skills and competences are often undervalued, especially in occupations where they are in the majority. This results in lower rates of pay for women. For example, physical tasks, which tend to be carried out by men, are often valued more favourably than those carried out by women. For instance, afemale cashier in asupermarket earns less than aman working in the stockroom. When women are the majority in asmall number of occupations, they receive lower wages. The opposite is true for men, as the more they dominate an occupation the higher their pay. For example, where women are clustered into female dominated occupations, such as cleaning, they tend to earn less than men who have comparable skills in male dominated occupations, such as refuse collection. Womens skills are often undervalued because they are seen to reflect female characteristics, rather than acquired skills and competences. For example, afemale nurse earns less than amale medical technician, even though they have comparable levels of qualifications. This can result in agender bias in the setting of wages and in assessing the value of the work that women do.

Few women in senior and leadership positions

Women are under-represented in politics and in the economy. Only athird of scientists and engineers across Europe are women. Even in those sectors dominated by women they are under-represented in senior positions, in particular at the top level. Women only make up less than 17% of board members in the biggest publicly-listed companies across the EU and only 4% of the chairs of boards6.

Gender roles and traditions

Gender roles and traditions shape womens and mens roles in society from avery early age. Traditions and gender roles may influence, for example, the choice of educational path taken by ayoung man or woman. These decisions are affected by traditional values and assumptions about working patterns. Research shows that women in senior positions in typically feminine careers are paid substantially less than women working at the top in typically masculine careers7.

Balancing work and family responsibilities

Women work shorter hours and often part-time in order to combine their family responsibilities with paid work. Opportunities for women to progress in their jobs and receive higher pay are also affected by their family responsibilities. The gender pay gap widens when women have children and when they work part-time. Women spend more time than men carrying out domestic and care work, and few men take parental leave or work part-time. While men work longer hours than women in the workplace, if womens paid and unpaid working hours are combined they are significantly longer than mens.

What are the benefits of closing the gender pay gap?

Creating afairer and more equal society
Greater equality between men and women would bring benefits to the economy and to society in general. Closing the gender pay gap can help to reduce levels of poverty and increase womens earnings during their lifetimes. This not only avoids the risk of women falling into poverty during their working lives, but also reduces the danger of poverty in retirement.

Supplying quality jobs

Women have rising expectations for their working lives and, if companies want to attract the best talent, equality at work is amust. It is essential to creating quality jobs and ahighly-motivated workforce. Quality jobs, in turn, are crucial to building apositive working environment where all workers are valued for their work.

Good for business, workers and the economy

Employers can benefit from using womens talents and skills more effectively, for example by valuing womens skills and through introducing policies on work-life balance, training and career development. Women have skills and talents that are often under-utilised in the workplace and unlocking these can help companies tackle skills shortages. Valuing women for the work that they do and rewarding their skills and potential fairly can improve abusiness performance and effectiveness, for example, by attracting and retaining the best and most talented staff and creating apositive image with customers. Companies that build equality plans and strategies into their workplaces create the best workplaces for everyone, male or female, to work in. Having apositive working environment helps abusiness to attract customers, improve performance and boost competitiveness. Workers who feel more confident and valued for the tasks they carry out are also more likely to be innovative and productive at work.

Avoiding litigation and complaints

Ensuring that employees receive equal pay for work of an equal value in an organisation means that employers avoid complaints being made about discrimination and unfair work practices. This prevents time and money being spent on dealing with complaints and any subsequent litigation.

A basis for economic growth and recovery

During the financial and economic crisis, womens participation in the economy and their contribution to family finances have increased. It is therefore important to keep the issue of gender equality and the closing of the gender pay gap alive as they contribute to achieving employment growth, competitiveness and economic recovery.

Map of the gender pay gap in EU-28

Across the EU economy women earn on average around 16.4% less than men.
Ireland 14.4% United Kingdom 19.1% Netherlands 16.9% Belgium 10% Germany Denmark 14.9%

Luxembourg 8.6% France 14.8%

Portugal 15.7% Spain 17.8%

Source: Eurostat 2012 except for EL (2010).

Finland 19.4%
Sweden 15.9% Estonia 30% Latvia 13.8% Lithuania 12.6%

22.4%

Poland 6.4%

Czech Republic 22% Slovakia 21.5% Austria 23.4% Hungary 20.1% Slovenia 2.5% Romania 9.7% Croatia 18%

Bulgaria 14.7% Italy 6.7% Greece 15%

Malta 6.1%

Cyprus 16.2%

IS OUR WORK VALUED THE SAME?

Women have as good or better qualifications than men, but often their skills are not as valued as mens and their career progression is slower. This results in an average gender pay gap of around 16% in the European Union.

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What is the EU doing?

Closing the gender pay gap has long been apriority for the EU. The EUs pledge to close the gap dates back to the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Today alegal basis for EU action exists under the Treaty of Lisbon, together with the commitment to gender equality found in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. EU action also seeks to change attitudes to gender roles in schools, in the home, in the workplace and in society in general. Gender equality and making better use of womens talents and skills are central to closing the gender pay gap and to achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the EUs growth strategy for this decade. The Strategy aims to create more and better jobs, to achieve ahigher employment rate for women as part of the overall employment target of 75% for all 20-64 year-olds, and to ensure that there are 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2020. Reducing the gender pay gap is apriority identified in arange of policy areas. For example: The European Pact for Gender Equality which was adopted by EU leaders in 2011; The framework of actions on gender equality agreed between the European social partners in 2005.

Communication on the gender pay gap, 2007

The European Commissions 2007 Communication on the gender pay gap proposed aseries of actions to tackle the gender pay gap. These included the better application of existing legislation, fighting the gender pay gap in employment policies, promoting equal pay among employers and through social partnership, and supporting the exchange of good practices across the EU.

Strategy for equality between women and men, 2010-2015

Closing the gender pay gap through legislative and non-legislative measures is acore objective of the European Commissions Strategy for equality between women and men (2010-2015). The Strategy sets out actions in five areas: the economy and labour market; equal pay; equality in senior positions; tackling gender violence; and promoting equality beyond the EU.

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Directive on Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value8

The principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value has been enshrined in Treaties since 1957 and is incorporated in the Directive 2006/54/EC (Recast Directive). One of the Commissions priorities for the coming years will be to monitor the correct application and enforcement of the equal pay provisions of the Directive 2006/54/EC and to support employees, Member States and other stakeholders by providing guidance on the proper enforcement and application of the existing rules. In this context, the Commission published in December 2013 areport9 on the application of the Directive 2006/54/EC. This report focusses in particular on assessing the application of the provisions on equal pay in practice. It includes an overview of the landmark EU case-law on equal pay. It also includes asection on job classification schemes and examples of national actions10.

Equality Pays Off

To support employers in their efforts to tackle the gender pay gap, the Commission carried out the Equality Pays Off project during 2012 and 2013. Its aim was to raise companies awareness of the business case for gender equality and equal pay, that is, better access to the labour force potential of women in acontext of demographic changes and skill shortages. A total of 39 events (national workshops in 34 countries, aBusiness Forum on 21March2013, 4 trainings on equal pay) were organised. Supporting material (training manuals, good practice handbooks, information material) was produced. Big companies and stakeholders (European and national social partners, business associations, national authorities and experts) participated in the various actions. A website with further information on this initiative is available11.

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European Equal Pay Day

On 5 March 2011 the European Commission launched the first European Equal Pay Day. The second one was held on 2 March 2012 and the third one took place on 28February 2013. In 2014, the European Equal Pay Day was marked on 28 of February. The European Equal Pay Day is an annual event to raise awareness of the fact that awage gap between women and men still exists and that women need to work longer than men to earn the same. Its date varies every year depending on the average EU gender pay gap. The change in the European Equal Pay Day represents aslight reduction of the gender pay gap.

WILL HAVING A CHILD HARM MY CAREER?

As family responsibilities are not equally shared, women have more frequent career breaks and work shorter hours than men. This results in less financially rewarding careers: women earn on average around 16% less than men.

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How to close the gender pay gap at national level?

Finding asolution to the gender pay gap is mainly in the hands of national governments and the social partners. The EU can help, but solutions should be developed at national level. Public opinion in the EU Member States also has an important role to play. National governments and the social partners have adopted awide range of measures to close the gender pay gap. Some examples can be found below.

Strategies on gender equality and equal pay

Several countries have introduced strategies on gender equality, which include provisions to help close the gender pay gap. For example: In Estonia, an action plan to reduce the gender pay gap was approved in 2012. There are five main streams of actions: 1) improving the implementation of the existing Gender Equality Act (e.g. improvement of the collection of statistics, awareness raising, support of the work of the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner etc.), 2) improving the family, work and private life reconciliation (e.g. work with employers); 3) promoting gender mainstreaming, especially in the field of education; 4) reducing the gender segregation; 5) analysing the organizational practices and pay systems in the public sector, improving the situation where necessary. It is emphasized that the gender pay gap is acomplex issue and there is aneed to implement simultaneous measures in all relevant fields12. In Finland the tripartite Equal Pay Programme for 2006-201513 aims to reduce the gender gap from around 20% to 15% and to implement the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. The programme includes actions on desegregation, the development of pay systems, measures to support womens careers, and calls for the social partners to establish agreements to reduce the pay gap. In Portugal, the 4th Plan for Equality includes among its objectives the reduction of gender pay gaps and the introduction of equality plans within enterprises14. In Lithuania, the gender equality policies are set out in the National Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for 2010-2014. Aconsiderable number of measures are targeted towards improving the situation for women and men in the labour market. One of the priorities is reducing the gender pay gap, which includes actions to increase salaries in female-dominated sectors such as education, arts and culture and social work15.

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Gender equality reports

Some countries have implemented reports of inquiry into the gender pay gap. For example:
Since 2007 the Belgian government has published yearly the report The gender wage

gap in Belgium 16, produced by the Institute for equality between women and men, presenting statistics in line with official European indicators.

Gender equality plans in companies and audits to reduce the gender pay gap
Gender equality plans and audits enable companies to measure their progress in implementing gender equality and equal pay. In some cases there is alegislative requirement to carry out the plans, while in others it is voluntary. For example: In Sweden, the 2009 Discrimination Act17 requires employers and employees to endeavour to equalise and prevent differences in pay and other terms of employment between women and men who perform work which is to be regarded as equal or of equal value. They are also supposed to promote equal pay growth opportunities for women and men. Finally, the Act requires employers to carry out apay survey every three years in order to detect, remedy, and prevent unjustified differences between women and mens pay, terms and conditions of employment, and draw up an equal pay action plan (if employing 25 or more workers). In Austria, the National Action Plan for Gender Equality in the Labour Market18 includes acompulsory requirement for companies to publish equal pay reports. Companies have to draw up staff income reports every two years. The reports must show the number of men and women classified under each category as well as the average or median income, adjusted for working time, for women and men in the respective category. The goal is to create income transparency and take measures to reduce gender pay gaps. The equal pay reports are compulsory for companies with more than 1000 employees from 2011 for the year 2010, for companies with more than 500 employees since 2012, for companies with more than 250 employees in 2013 and with more than 150 employees in 201419. On 22 April 2012 Belgium adopted alaw on reducing the gender pay gap. According to this law, differences in pay and labour costs between men and women should be outlined in companies annual audit (bilan social). These annual audits will be transmitted to the national bank and this information will be publicly available. Moreover, the law stipulates that every two years firms with over 50 workers should establish acomparative analysis of the wage structure of female and male employees. If this analysis shows that women earn less than men the firm will be obliged to produce

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an action plan. Finally, in case discrimination is suspected, women can turn to their firms mediator who will establish whether there is indeed apay differential and if so, will try to find acompromise with the employer20.

Specific legislation and collective agreements

Some countries have introduced provisions relating to pay transparency or collective agreements and equal pay. For example: In Portugal, almost all employers are obliged to annually collect information on the Personnel Records of the enterprise to the Ministry responsible for labour and employment regarding several aspects of their working conditions, among them, remunerations. The Personnel Records are submitted to the labour inspection authorities (ACT); trade unions or workers committees (upon request in due time); employer representatives present in the Standing Committee for Social Dialogue (CPCS). Before this the Personnel Records must be made available to the employees. The Council of Ministers approved aResolution on 8 March 201321 deciding to approve some measures in order to guarantee and promote equality of opportunity and results between women and men in the labour market, including what concerns the elimination of wage gaps. The measures include the development and dissemination of areport on the wage gender gaps by industry. In France, the 2006 Act on Equal Pay between Women and Men22 makes provision for compulsory collective bargaining on gender equality and requires companies to report on salaries and plans to close the gender pay gap. The French government has hardened existing sanctions against firms with 50 employees and above that do not respect their obligations regarding gender equality23. For the first time, two firms have been condemned in April 2013 for not complying to the legislation on equal pay.

Tools to make pay systems transparent and identify the gender pay gap
Transparent pay systems are acrucial factor in implementing equal pay. Tools exist to help ensure this. For example: An online tool, Logib, has been developed in Germany24, Luxembourg25 and Switzerland26 to enable companies to analyse pay and staffing structures and verify if equal pay exists between male and female employees. Reports analyzing the reasons and proposal of actions to tackle the gender pay gap are also foreseen with this tool. In Austria, aWage and salary calculator has been set up which provides up-to-date and easily accessible information about pay customary in asector/place. It started

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in October 201127. The wage and salary calculator is part of the National Action Plan for Gender Equality in the Labour Market.

Equal Pay Days28

Many countries hold regular Equal Pay Days. The Business and Professional Women Association29 is behind the organization of many of them. Activities include handing out information on the gender pay gap, organizing events, and holding meetings with government representatives. Some examples: Belgium was the first country in Europe to organize an Equal Pay Day in 2005. The three largest trade unions have been organising Equal Pay Days in recent years. They use humorous poster campaigns, radio and TV commercials, banners, buttons, flyers, adedicated website, the use of social media, video clips, etc. In 2013, Equal Pay Day celebrated its ninth edition30. In the Czech Republic, an Equal Pay Day has been organized by Business and Professional Women (BPW) since 2010. The 4th Equal Pay Day in the Czech Republic took place on 24 April 2013. An experts conference and amentoring activity were held, where 31 entrepreneurs and managers passed on their experience to about 600young women. During the whole day the traditional red bag with the logo of the event was handed out31. In Estonia, the National Equal Pay Day 2013 was celebrated on 11 April. The main promoter of activities is Business and Professional Women-Estonia. The traditional action focused on serving salmon meals with or without dill for different prices, demonstrating the gender pay gap in Estonia, will remain the same, with aspecial focus on young people and employers. The BPW is also planning to continue collecting peoples opinions and experiences, with aspecific focus on transparent and fair wage systems, which is the main message of the whole campaign in 201332. In Spain, the Equal Pay Day takes place on 22 of February. An institutional logo was created by the Ministry responsible for equality and non-discrimination policies. In commemoration of this date, lottery tickets reproducing this logo have been produced for the occasion. In addition, specific post stamps have been circulated on 22 February to support the national Equal Pay Day33.

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Guidance to understand and apply the principle of equal pay. Job evaluation/job classification methods free from gender bias
Job evaluation free from gender bias is very important to ensure that work carried out by women and men is of an equal value. For example: In Portugal, amethod for job evaluation free from gender bias has been produced in the hotel and restaurant sector as part of the project Revalue work to promote gender equality. This has enabled jobs that are male dominated and jobs that are female dominated to be evaluated and compared in order to determine whether the gender pay gap is aresult of the unfair valuing of womens work and discrimination. Aguide34 to applying job evaluation free from gender bias has also been produced as well as atraining handbook35. In 2011, the United Kingdom published the Statutory Code of Practice on equal pay36, atechnical guide to illustrate where and how legislation on equal pay can be brought to bear in real-life situations. It is atool mainly addressed to lawyers, human resources personnel, courts and tribunals.

Equality labels, charters and awards

In 2010 the European Commission published astudy containing an inventory of these non-legislative instruments to promote gender equality in companies in Europe37. Some of these instruments take into account the gender pay gap as afactor. Switzerland provides the clearest example of aspecific company certificate on the gender pay gap: In Switzerland companies can be awarded an equal pay logo if they show they have implemented afair wage policy between women and men38.

BOY OR GIRL, SAME JOB, SAME PENSION?

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES? Womens earnings over alifetime are on

average around 16% lower than mens. When These babies are born with equal opportunities, but women retire these lower earnings result in the educational and career expectations forboys and lower girls are different. By leads the time they grow up, pensions. This to more women the than boy will be experiencing earning on average 17.5% men poverty in oldmore age. than the girl.

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References and further information

1 The EU gender pay gap was 17.3% in 2008. The last available data for 2011 is 16.2%. which is carried out every four years by Eurostat. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/earn_grgpg2_esms.htm 3 4 5 6 Eurostat, 2010. Eurostat, 2012. Eurostat, 2012. Data from April 2013. European Commissions database on women and men in decision-making: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/database/index_en.htm 7  Busch Aand Holst E, 2011 Gender Specific Occupational Segregation, Glass Ceiling Effects and Earnings in Managerial Positions, German Institute for Economic Research. 8 Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the in matters of employment and occupation (recast); OJ L204, 26.7.2006, p. 23-36. 9 COM(2013) 861 Final. 10 SWD(2013) 512 Final. 11 http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/equality-pays-off/ 12 http://www.sm.ee/tegevus/sooline-vordoiguslikkus/tooelu/palgalohe-tegevuskava.html 13 http://www.stm.fi/tasa-arvo/samapalkkaisuus;jsessionid=74f5cb85735614e13d29dca0d60c 14 http://www.cite.gov.pt/asstscite/downloads/IV_PNI_2011_2013.pdf 15 http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_id=372298&p_query=&p_tr2= 16 Institute for the equality of women and men, Belgium: http://igvm-iefh.belgium.be/ 17 http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/11/59/03/b463d1e1.pdf 18 http://www.bka.gv.at/DocView.axd?CobId=42528 19 http://www.frauen.bka.gv.at 20 http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2012/08/28_1.pdf 21 https://dre.pt/pdfgratis/2013/03/04800.pdf 22  http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000816849&dateTexte=&categorieLien=id  implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women 2  The data on the gender pay gap is based on the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) methodology

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23 http://legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000026792583&categorieLien=id 24 Logib-d tool, Germany: http://www.logib-d.de 25 Logib tool, Luxembourg: http://www.mega.public.lu/actions_projets/ecart_salaire/ 26 Logib tool, Switzerland: http://www.ebg.admin.ch/dienstleistungen/00017/index.html?lang=en 27 http://www.gehaltsrechner.gv.at 28 Equal Pay Days in the EU: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-pay-gap/national-action/equal-pay-days 29 http://www.bpw-europe.org/equal-pay-day 30 Belgium: http://www.equalpayday.be/ 31 Czech Republic: http://www.equalpayday.cz/ 32 Estonia: http://www.bpw-estonia.ee/tilliga-ja-tillita 33 Spain: http://www.msssi.gob.es/novedades/docs/2013_02_22_Nota_informativa.pdf 34 http://www.cite.gov.pt/asstscite/downloads/guia_revalorizar_en.pdf 35 http://www.cite.gov.pt/asstscite/downloads/referencial_revalorizar_en.pdf 36 http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/EqualityAct/equalpaycode.pdf 37  Study on non-legislative initiatives for companies to promote gender equality at the workplace: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=5364&langId=en http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=5366&langId=en http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/gender_pay_gap/database_version2_en.mdb 38 Switzerland: http://www.equalsalary.org/

European Commission Directorate-General for Justice Tackling the gender pay gap in the European Union Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union 2014 24 pp. 14.8 21 cm ISBN 978-92-79-36068-8 doi:10.2838/42323

Gender Pay Gap Website http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay

DS-02-14-189-EN-N

Gender Pay Gap Website http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay

ISBN 978-92-79-36068-8 doi:10.2838/42323

Women and men in leadership positions in the European Union, 2013

A review of the situation and recent progress

Justice

Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission may be held responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained in this publication.

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European Commission - Directorate-General for Justice More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu) European Union, 2013 ISBN: 978-92-79-30565-8 doi: 10.2838/50821 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium

Women and men in leadership positions in the European Union 2013

A review of the situation and recent progress

Published October 2013 Data to end-June 2013

Table of contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3 3.1 3.2 4 4.1 4.2 Economic decision-making: accelerated progress following regulatory pressure .......................................................... 5 Company boards: the latest situation and trends................................................................................................................................ 5 Actions to bring about change .................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Central banks and EU financial institutions: more efforts are needed .................................................................................. 16 Politics: slow progress .......................................................................................................................................................................... 19 European Council: a long way to go ......................................................................................................................................................... 19 European Commission: representation of women increasing .................................................................................................... 19 National governments ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 National, regional and local assemblies ................................................................................................................................................ 22 European Parliament: 2014 is an opportunity ................................................................................................................................... 28 Public administrations: some cause for optimism ................................................................................................................... 31 National public administrations: edging closer to gender balance .......................................................................................... 31 Promoting gender balance in the European Commission ............................................................................................................. 33 Judiciary: gradual improvement....................................................................................................................................................... 34 National supreme courts: considerable variation between countries .................................................................................... 34 European courts: little change over the past decade ..................................................................................................................... 36

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 37 Annexes..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 A.1 A.2 Country codes ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Companies data: sample size by country ............................................................................................................................................. 38

List of figures
Figure 1 - Representation of women and men on the boards of large listed companies, April 2013 .......................................6 Figure 2 - Share of women on the boards of large listed companies, EU-27, 2010-2013 .............................................................7 Figure 3 - Change in the share of women on boards by country, October 2010 - April 2013 .......................................................8 Figure 4 - Change in the share of women on boards by country, October 2012 - April 2013 .......................................................9 Figure 5 - Share of women amongst non-executive directors and senior executives of large listed companies, April 2013 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10 Figure 6 - Distribution of companies by number of women on the board, EU-27, 2010 and 2013 ........................................11 Figure 7 - Distribution of companies by number of women on the board by country, April 2013 ............................................11 Figure 8 - Representation of men and women in national central banks, 2013 ................................................................................16 Figure 9 - Share of women in the decision-making bodies of national central banks, EU-27, 2003-2013 ........................17 Figure 10 - Representation of women in governing boards of European financial institutions, 2003-2013......................17 Figure 11 - Representation of women in the European Council, 2009-2013 ......................................................................................19 Figure 12 - Representation of women in European Commission over the last 25 years ...............................................................19 Figure 13 - Representation of women and men in national governments (senior ministers), 2013 .......................................20 Figure 14 - Representation of women in national governments (senior ministers), EU-27, 2004-2013 ..............................20

Figure 15 - Distribution of men and women in government by type of portfolio, EU-27, 2013 ................................................21 Figure 16 - Share of women senior government ministers by type of portfolio, EU-27, 2004 and 2013............................21 Figure 17 Share of women in national parliaments (single/lower house) in the EU, 2003-2013 .........................................22 Figure 18 - Representation of women and men in national parliaments (single/lower house), 2013 ....................................22 Figure 19 - Representation of women in local councils (2011) and regional assemblies (2012).............................................23 Figure 20 - Changes in the representation of women in national parliaments, 2003* - 2013 ..................................................25 Figure 21 - Average changes in the representation of women in national parliaments 2003-2013 by type of quota25 Figure 22 - Representation of women and men in the European Parliament, 2013 ........................................................................29 Figure 23 - Representation of women and men in the European Parliament, 1979-2014 ..........................................................30 Figure 24 - Share of women in the top two levels of (non-political) administrators in national administrations, EU-27, 2003-2012 ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................31 Figure 25 - Share of women in the top two levels of (non-political) administrators in national administrations, 2012 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................32 Figure 26 - Share of women judges in national supreme courts across the EU, 2003-2012 .....................................................34 Figure 27 - Representation of women and men amongst judges of national supreme courts, 2012 ....................................35 Figure 28 - Gender imbalance amongst presidents of top courts and public prosecutors, EU-27, 2012 .............................35 Figure 29 - Share of women judges in courts with jurisdiction at European level, 2003-2013 .................................................36

List of tables
Table 1 - Overview of some of the key drivers of progress since 2010 .....................................................................................................8 Table 2 - Share of women amongst board chairs and CEOs of large companies, April 2013 ....................................................12 Table 3 - Share of women leaders of major political parties, 2012 .........................................................................................................23 Table 4 - OSCE six-point plan for gender equality in elected office ..........................................................................................................24 Table 5 - Summary of legislative quotas currently applicable to the nomination of candidates for parliamentary elections ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................26 Table 6 - Political bodies within the European Parliament .............................................................................................................................30 Table 7 - Representation of women at three levels of European Commission ...................................................................................33

Introduction
Equality between women and men is enshrined in the EU Treaties and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as a fundamental principle of the European Union (EU). Ensuring gender equality is one of the EU's main objectives and tasks1. It is also a necessary condition for the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy the EUs growth strategy, which leans on knowledge, competences and innovation. Despite significant progress during the last decades thanks to regulatory pressure, gender inequalities persist in leadership positions and the pace of change is slow in many Member States. In response, the European Commission has reaffirmed its commitment to work to improve the situation by making gender equality in decision-making one of the five priority areas in both the Womens Charter2 and the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (2010-2015)3. Women are particularly outnumbered by men in leadership positions in the corporate sector and this has been the focus of intense public debate initiated by the European Commission at EU level and in a number of Member States. Indeed, the under-utilisation of the skills of highly qualified and experienced women constitutes a loss of economic growth potential. Research from various countries suggests that companies with a higher representation of women at the most senior levels deliver stronger organisational and financial performance as well as better corporate governance. Moreover, the lack of women in leadership positions means that female talent is being underused, human capital wasted and the quality of appointments to the highest positions may be compromised. In April 2013, women accounted for 16.6% of board members of large publicly listed companies in the 27 EU Member States4. This represents encouraging progress the share of women has risen by an estimated 2.3 percentage points in 12 months5 and nearly 5 percentage points since October 2010 (11.8%), one month after the European Commission first announced that it was considering targeted initiatives to get more women into decisionmaking positions. Nevertheless, nearly one in four large listed companies still has no female representatives at board level and the rate of change is still some way below that required to reach a target of at least 40% of each gender by 2020. Recognising the many benefits associated with having gender balance on company boards, including economic ones, a number of national governments have taken initiatives and in some cases legislative measures to encourage or enforce change. Across Europe, social partners, individual companies and other relevant stakeholders are also working to facilitate and support the recognition and development of womens talents, and to break down the barriers that limit their access to leadership positions. Notwithstanding these efforts, the rate of change in most Member States has been slow, which indicates that there is insufficient commitment and that self-regulation does not bring about substantial and rapid change. Hence, following an extensive public consultation6, the European Commission - with the strong support of the European Parliament and a number of Member States - has decided to take legislative action at EU level. The European Economic and Social Committee 7 and the Committee of Regions8 have also backed this initiative. On 14 November 2012 the European Commission put forward a proposal for a Directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (see section 1.2). This proposal is the culmination of a series of initiatives taken by the Commission to monitor the situation, to raise awareness of the inequalities that exist and of the economic and business case for gender diversity in leadership, to stimulate highlevel public debate, and to encourage companies and Member States to take action9. This report is produced in the context of the Commissions commitment to monitor the current situation and trends in the participation of women and men in high-level decision-making positions. It aims to highlight the gender gaps that remain in leadership positions but also to show the progress that is being made to reduce them. It includes
1

Article 2 and Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union and Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/news/documents/pdf/20100305_1_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/document/index_en.htm Situation prior to the accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013 This figure is calculated from the average monthly change between January 2012 (13.7%) and April 2013 (16.6%). http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/gender-equality/opinion/120528_en.htm Official Journal of the European Union C 133/68, 9 May 2013: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2013:133:FULL:EN:PDF ECOS-V/039. See http://www.toad.cor.europa.eu/AgendaDocuments.aspx?pmi=ha5jDW%2BOWSGA9v5ptBX3MbEqXkLHPBxNdLxAYnYqvwQ%3D&ViewDoc=true See http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/index_en.htm

examples of action taken by governments, business and other stakeholders to boost the participation of women in leadership positions. Section one provides an update of progress on the participation of women and men on the boards of major publicly listed companies in the EU based on the most recent figures (April, 2013) and how this has changed over recent years. This builds on the Commissions progress report published in 201210 and earlier reviews11. The section also investigates the gender balance in the key decision-making bodies of national central banks and the EU financial institutions. Section two deals with politics and considers the composition of governments and elected assemblies in Member States and in European institutions and recent trends in the representation of women and men. Section three reviews the gender balance in public administrations at the national level and in the European Commission. Section four looks at the representation of women and men in the judiciary, considering the gender balance amongst senior judges in the highest national courts and in European courts. The report is, as far as possible, based on quantitative analysis of the situation with the majority of data being drawn from the European Commission database on women and men in decision-making, which is freely available for online consultation12. The database includes comparable data for EU Member States from 2003 onwards. Where relevant, 2003 is therefore used as the starting point for analysis of developments through time. The report was compiled and all data collected before the accession of Croatia on 1 st July 2013. All EU aggregates therefore refer to the EU-27 and, where relevant, data for Croatia are grouped with those for other countries from outside the EU. The Commission database will be updated to reflect the accession of Croatia later in 2013.

10

Women in economic decision-making in the EU: Progress report, European Commission, March 2012. See documents available here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/document/index_en.htm#h2-5 http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/database/index_en.htm

11

12

1 Economic decision-making:
accelerated progress following regulatory pressure
Women account for 46% of people in employment across the EU13 and on average they have a higher level of education than their male colleagues: 34% of working women have some form of tertiary level education compared to 28% of men14. Yet at the top levels of business women remain under-represented. In economic terms, this represents a lack of return on investment that is to the detriment of companies and to the general prospects for prosperity and growth in the European Union. There is, therefore, also an economic and business case for taking action to address the situation. A number of Member States have taken positive steps to promote gender equality in company boardrooms but the actions taken, the targets set, and the progress achieved are fragmented. The European Commission has therefore taken the lead in proposing legislation at EU level to ensure a common framework and objective to achieve gender balance (see section 1.2).

1.1 Company boards: the latest situation and trends

Methodology
Analysis in this section is based on data from the European Commission database on women and men in decisionmaking. The data cover publicly listed companies that are constituents of the main blue-chip index for each country and registered in the country concerned (according to the ISIN code). The blue-chip indices are maintained by the relevant stock-exchange and are typically compiled on the basis of market capitalisation or the most traded shares. The number of companies covered per country depends on the size of the index but a maximum of 50 are counted in each (e.g. for the UK the sample covers the 50 largest constituents of the FTSE-100). In the case that an index has less than ten constituents, additional companies are added (based on market capitalisation) in order to achieve, where possible, a minimum sample of ten companies for each country15. Data are collected on the following positions: Board members: data describing the share of women and men on company boards (e.g. Figure 1 and Figure 2) cover all members of the highest decision-making body in each company (i.e. 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). Executives and non-executives: data cover non-executive directors and senior executives in the two highest decision-making bodies in each company (Figure 5). The two highest decision-making bodies are usually referred to as the supervisory board and the management board (for a two-tier governance system) and the board of directors and executive/management committee (in a unitary governance system). Note: any individual who sits in both decision-making bodies of a particular company is counted only once and employee representatives are not counted at all.

Data are collected primarily from company websites. Where information is not available or is unclear a variety of methods are used to complete the data including: direct contact with the company; websites of the relevant stockexchange; other publicly available databases of company information. The latest data were collected in April 2013 and cover 716 of the largest listed companies from 33 countries across Europe, 587 of which are from the 27 EU Member States.

13

Source: Eurostat, Labour Force Survey, data from 2012. Ibid. See Annex A.2 for a table showing the sample size for each country.

14

15

Gender balance in boardrooms across the EU - situation in April 2013

The most recent figures from April 2013 show that women account for just 16.6%, or one in six, of board members of the largest publicly listed companies in the EU-27 (Figure 1). The highest levels of female representation on boards occurs in Finland (29.1%) and Latvia (29%), closely followed by France (26.8%) and Sweden (26.5%). The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Slovenia are the only other EU Member States to have at least 20% women on boards. That means that there are still nineteen Member States where men hold at least four out of every five board positions and in six of these - Romania, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, and Malta women hold less than one in ten positions. The fact that not one EU Member State is close to the EUs 40% objective and that more than two thirds are not even half-way to meeting it, supports the case that binding measures are crucial to bring about effective change. Indeed, of the 33 European countries covered by the Commission database, the only two that have achieved gender balanced boards are Iceland and Norway, both of which have adopted legislative quotas16. Figure 1 - Representation of women and men on the boards of large listed companies, April 2013
100% 80% Women Men

60%
Gender balance zone 40%

20%
0%

EU-27 average, 16.6%

9.1%

8.9%

8.1%

7.3%

7.1%

2.8%

21.1%

12.0%

29.1%

29.0%

26.8%

26.5%

23.6%

20.5%

20.0%

19.6%

18.5%

18.4%

16.2%

15.2%

14.3%

13.8%

12.9%

12.0%

10.7%

10.3%

10.1%

48.9%

41.9%

20.3%

19.4%

FI LV FR SE NL DK DE SI SK UK CZ LT BG ES BE IT HU AT IE PL LU RO CY EE EL PT MT

IS NO MK RS HR TR

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

Political and regulatory pressure accelerate progress

The European Commission has been monitoring the gender balance on company boards annually since 2003. Between 2003 and 2010 the share of women board members increased from 8.5% to 11.8%, an average rate of just 0.5 percentage points per year. This rate of change was unacceptably slow and without action it would have taken in excess of 50 years to reach a point where boardrooms comprised at least 40% of each gender. In September 2010, the European Commission published its Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (20102015)17 and first raised the prospect of considering targeted initiatives to improve the gender balance in decisionmaking. Since then, a series of Commission initiatives have brought the issue of the under-representation of women in business leadership positions to the fore of public debate and pressured Member States and companies to introduce measures to improve the situation: In March 2011, the Commission launched the Women on the Board Pledge for Europe 18 which called on companies to voluntarily commit to targets to increase the representation of women board members. A year later, in March 2012, the Commission published a report on progress 19, which found that despite a small improvement in the level of female representation, progress through self-regulation continued to be very limited. As a result, the report announced that policy options for targeted measures to enhance

In the case of Iceland, the 2010 quota law requires all publicly owned and publicly limited companies with more than 50 employees to have at least 40% of each gender on the board by 2013. The 9 large companies covered by the Commission database have achieved this ahead of schedule.
16 17

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0491:FIN:en:PDF http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding/womenpledge/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/gender-equality/opinion/files/120528/women_on_board_progress_report_en.pdf

18

19

13.3%

9.0%

female participation in decision-making at the European level would be explored following public consultation. In November 2012, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive with an objective of 40% for the under-represented sex among non-executive directors by 2020 (see section 1.2).

This series of initiatives has contributed to significantly accelerate the rate of change. Since 2010 the share of women on boards has risen by 4.8 percentage points (pp) at an average rate of 1.9 pp/year, almost four times the long-term rate (Figure 2) Figure 2 - Share of women on the boards of large listed companies, EU-27, 2010-2013
18% Mar 2012 Progress report: selfregulation not working Mar 2011 Call for self-regulation: Women on the Board Pledge for Europe
Oct 2012: 15.8% Oct 2011: 13.6% Jan 2012: 13.7%

Apr 2013: 16.6%

16% Sep 2010 Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (2010-2015)

14%

Nov 2012 Legislative proposal

12%
Oct 2010: 11.8%

2003-2010 trend line

10% 2010

2010

2011

2011

2012

2012

2013

2013

2014

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

When launching the Women on the Board Pledge in 2011, Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding set targets of achieving 30% of women on the boards of listed companies by 2015 and 40% by 2020. The accelerated rate of change is still some way short of what is required to reach either of those targets 20. Moreover, there is an indication that the rate of progress is slowing, strengthening the calls for legislation. The latest figure of 16.6% women on boards in April 2013 represents an improvement of 0.9 percentage points 21 in the six months since the previous update in October 2012 or an annual equivalent rate of 1.7 pp, down from the rate of 2.2 pp between 2011 and 2012. In addition, the progress that has been made is concentrated in a few Member States.

Significant developments concentrated in a few Member States

The most significant developments over recent years have largely occurred in countries where binding legislation has already been adopted, such as France, the Netherlands and Italy, or where there has been an extensive public and media debate, such as Germany and the UK (Table 1). In fact, excluding these five countries the change between October 2010 and April 2013 would be just half that seen for the EU as a whole (2.4 pp instead of 4.8 pp). In other words, in most of the countries where there has not been any particular action to drive change, progress has been limited (Figure 3). For example, in Sweden, Malta, Estonia and Greece the level of female representation has hardly changed since 2010 and it has declined in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.

20

An annual increase of around 3.5 pp would be required to achieve 40% women by 2020.

The share of women on boards was 15.8% in October 2012. The improvement to 16.6% is correctly reported as 0.9 percentage points rather than 0.8 because of rounding in the underlying figures.
21

Table 1 - Overview of some of the key drivers of progress since 2010

Country France Change +14.4 pp Driver of change Quota law that came into force on 28 January 2011 (20% by 2014 and 40% by 2017) is applicable to the boards (non-executive directors) of listed companies and non-listed companies with more than 500 employees or annual turnover of at least 50 million. Civil code (adapted by 2011 law) obliging companies to strive for 30% of each sex on management and supervisory boards and to publish an explanation in case of failure to meet the target (comply or explain). Quota law that came into force on 11 August 2011 (one third of each gender by 2015) is applicable to supervisory and management boards of listed and state-owned companies. Quota law approved by the Bundesrat (upper chamber of the Parliament). Four of the five parties currently represented in the Bundestag (lower chamber of parliament), including the CDU22, have committed to introduce a proposal for binding legislation after the general election of 22 September 2013. The government commissioned Lord Davies report in 2011 proposed an initial target of 25% women directors for FTSE-100 by 2015 to be achieved through self-regulation by companies. The first annual review in March 2012 showed significant progress but the latest research suggests that progress has slowed23.

Netherlands

+8.7 pp

Italy Germany

+8.4 pp +7.9 pp

UK

+5.1 pp

Note: Changes refer to the difference between the share of women on boards in October 2010 and April 2013 in percentage points (source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making). The Commissions 2012 progress report includes an Annex giving more details of the measures taken in each country.

Figure 3 - Change in the share of women on boards by country, October 2010 - April 2013
15.0
10.0 5.0

Percentage points

Decrease

Increase

Increase driven by legislation/debate

7.9 8.4 8.7 10.2

14.4

0.0
-5.0 -10.0 -1.3 -2.0 -1.5

6.2 6.6 4.8 4.8 4.9 5.1 5.5 3.3 3.4 3.9 3.1 3.3 3.3 1.6 2.2 0.1 0.4 1.1 1.1

-15.0

-12.2
HU RO SK EE

PT

ES

PL

EL

SE

BE

UK

DK

MT

BG

DE

AT

CY

CZ

NL

SI

FI

EU-27

LV

LU

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: See Table 1 for details of increases driven by legislation/public debate.

22

CDU = Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the major centre-right party in Germany.

See the original Lord Davies report and subsequent progress reports published by the UK government: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/women-on-boards--3. An update of the situation in March 2013 has been published by Cranfield University: http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/media/Research/Research%20Centres/CICWL/FTSEReport2013.pdf.
23

FR

LT

IE

IT

The latest data show some improvement in most countries

In the six months from October 2012 to April 2013 there was a positive improvement in the share of women on boards in 20 of the 27 Member States (Figure 4). The largest percentage point increases occurred in Slovakia (+5.8 pp), Hungary (+4.7 pp) and Bulgaria (3.6 pp), though it should be noted that these are all countries with relatively small sample sizes (see Annex A.2) where the change can largely be linked to changes in the composition of companies covered by the blue-chip index. Indeed, the improvement in Germany (+2.5 pp) contributes more to the overall change at EU level than the increases in Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria combined. The share of women on boards has declined since October 2012 in Romania (-2.8 pp), Lithuania (-1.6 pp), and Poland (-1.4 pp) and less significantly in Malta, Greece, Portugal and the UK (all less than 1 pp). In the UK, the 0.3 percentage point decline marks a break from a period of encouraging progress since the publication of the government commissioned Lord Davies report in 2011. A follow-up report on progress published in April 2013 and a recent research study have both noted concern at the halt in progress24. Figure 4 - Change in the share of women on boards by country, October 2012 - April 2013
6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 Percentage points Decrease Increase 5.8 4.7 3.6 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.6 1.9 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.4
-0.8 -0.6 -0.3 -0.3

2.5

-1.6 -1.4

-2.8

PT

ES

RO

MT

EU-27

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

More women are non-executive directors than senior executives

In general, women are better represented in non-executive positions than in executive positions (Figure 5). Data based on the same sample of companies as the key boardroom data, but distinguishing the different positions covered in the top two decision-making bodies (see Methodology), show that women currently account for 17.6% of non-executive directors in the EU and 11.0% of the most senior executives. A higher level of female representation amongst non-executives applies in most countries, though in isolated cases such as Romania, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta, and to a lesser extent Greece, the proportion of women is higher amongst senior executives.

Women on Boards, UK Government, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, April 2013: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182602/bis-13-p135-women-on-boards-2013.pdf; The FTSE Female Report, Cranfield School of Management, April 2013: http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/media/Research/Research%20Centres/CICWL/FTSEReport2013.pdf
24

HU

UK

DK

BG

DE

NL

LU

SK

PL

EL

EE

SE

SI

AT

BE

CY

CZ

FR

LT

FI

IT

LV

IE

Figure 5 - Share of women amongst non-executive directors and senior executives of large listed companies, April 2013
100% 80%

Women

Men

Non-executive directors

60%
40%

EU-27 average, 17.6%

20%
0%

12.7%

28.6%

28.2%

23.7%

30.2%

28.0%

23.0%

8.1%

20.5%

17.2%

24.0%

20.8%

16.9%

19.6%

15.7%

15.1%

16.1%

13.1%

15.0%

10.3%

11.7%

48.9%

43.8%

21.1%

18.7% 25.0%

13.9% 17.0%

9.7%

6.8%

8.1%

8.1%

9.2%

2.7%

LV SE SI FI FR RO UK EE SK LT NL BG DK CY CZ LU ES BE DE IE IT PL EL AT PT HU MT
100% 80%

IS NO MK RS HR TR

Women

Men

Senior executives

60%
40% 20%

EU-27 average, 11.0%

0%

18.9%

16.5%

22.7%

21.1%

12.0%

25.4%

11.3%

25.6%

11.6%

14.4%

10.8%

12.7%

7.3%

12.8%

15.8%

25.6%

LV SE SI FI FR RO UK EE SK LT NL BG DK CY CZ LU ES BE DE IE IT PL EL AT PT HU MT

IS NO MK RS HR TR

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Countries are ranked by the share of women amongst senior executives and non-executive directors combined so that the countries are in the same order in each part of the chart and the two shares can be compared.

Within the EU, there are three countries - Finland, France and the Netherlands in which the share of women amongst non-executive directors is much higher than amongst senior executives (by between 17 and 18 percentage points). Two of these (France and the Netherlands) are among the Member States that have adopted binding legislation on board representation and have seen significant progress in the overall representation of women on boards since 2010 (Figure 3). In both cases the legislative measures were introduced relatively recently (2011) and the low shares of women amongst senior executives compared to non-executive directors may indicate that more time is needed for any significant impact to be seen in executive positions 25. Senior executive positions may be harder to fill (e.g. more succession planning is required) and take more time to change than non-executive positions (e.g. board members may be subject to a periodic renewal). Senior executives with experience of day-to-day management of companies are an important source of future nonexecutive directors so that the dearth of women in this talent pool should be of real concern 26. Measures to address the leaky executive pipeline, which sees many women entering an executive career path but few making it to the top, requires a bottom-up approach. Business managers need to ensure that womens talents are nurtured and grown and that at every point on the career ladder women are given the same opportunities as men 27. This is crucial to allow women to gain the day-to-day management experience needed to access the most senior executive and nonexecutive positions.

In the case of France it should be noted that the legislation applies only to the main board, which tends to include relatively few senior executives (average 10.3% of members).
25

See, for example, the 2013 follow-up to the Lord Davies report in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182602/bis-13-p135-women-on-boards-2013.pdf
26

Commission Staff Working Paper 'The Gender Balance in Business Leadership', March 2011 (SEC(2011) 246 final: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/11/st07/st07231.en11.pdf
27

10.5%

9.6%

6.6%

7.5%

6.1%

9.5%

9.9%

7.9%

7.7%

5.4%

6.8%

9.0%

4.1%

6.1%

9.3%

9.7%

10

More than three-quarters of companies have at least one woman on the board
In April 2013, more than three-quarters of companies (77%) had at least one woman on the board and nearly half (48%) have more than one. This represents a substantial improvement since 2010 when two thirds of companies (66%) had at least one female representative at board level and one third (34%) had more than one (Figure 6). It still means, however, that nearly one in four (23%) of the largest companies in the EU-27 have no female representatives at board level. Figure 6 - Distribution of companies by number of women on the board, EU-27, 2010 and 2013
2010 (October) 2013 (April)

No women 1 woman >1 woman

34%

34%

23%

48% 29%

32%

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

France is the only EU country with more than one woman on the board of every company covered by the data, joining Norway and, more recently, Iceland from outside the EU (Figure 7). Finland and Sweden are the only other European countries with at least one woman on the boards of all major companies, while the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are not far behind with between 93 and 96%. In contrast, more than half of companies in Malta, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Poland have no women on their boards. Figure 7 - Distribution of companies by number of women on the board by country, April 2013
52% 13% 33%
80% 40% 62% 35% 42% 33% 53% 26% 46% 53% 40% 46% 21% 15% 40% 30% 26% 18% 17% 12% 44% 30% 5% 6% 4% 0% 7% 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% 100%

100%

>1 woman

1 woman

No women

80%

60%

40%

20%
100%

18%

10%

13%

17%

20%

21%

23%

26%

30%

31%

32%

35%

40%

40%

45%

47%

56%

61%

70%

72%

78%

78%

80%

85%

28%

0%

MT RO EE CY LT EL BG PT HU PL SK CZ IE SI LU AT LV IT BE ES NL DK UK FI DE SE FR

TR HR MK RS IS NO

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Figures at the top show the proportion of companies with no women on the board, figures at the bottom show the proportion with more than one woman on the board.

Still very few women board chairs or CEOs

Despite the progress made at board level, there are still very few large companies with a woman Chairperson or CEO. The latest figures from April 2013 show that of the 587 EU companies covered by the Commission database just 26 are chaired by a woman (4.4%) and even fewer - 16 or 2.7% - have a female CEO. In just over half of EU Member States (14) no companies in the sample have a woman Chairperson and a similar number (but not the same countries) have no companies with a woman CEO (Table 2).

30%

0%

0%

8%

11

It is positive to note, however, that the figure for board chairs (4.4%) is the highest yet recorded, up from 3.4% in 2010. Data on CEOs have only been collected since 2012 and show no significant change. Table 2 - Share of women amongst board chairs and CEOs of large companies, April 2013 % women >10% 5-10% <5% 0% Board chairs CZ, SK, LV, BG, CY, SI LT, ES, FR, PL FI, SE, DE BE, DK, EE, IE, EL, IT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, UK (n) 6 4 3 14 CEOs CY, MT, NL, RO, SK LV, SI EL, LT, SE, ES, UK BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, FR, IT, LU, HU, AT, PL, PT, FI (n) 5 2 5 15

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Countries with relatively high shares are generally those which have a small sample where just one female chair/CEO contributes significantly to the final result.

1.2 Actions to bring about change

Over recent years the economic dimension of gender balance in business leadership has become increasingly prominent in national, European and international arenas. There has been significant public debate and political pressure and a range of initiatives have been taken by governments, companies and other stakeholders. However, the various initiatives and actions are fragmented in terms of their coverage and timescale. Given the strong economic and business case for improving gender equality in economic decision-making, there is a need to ensure that the issue is addressed systematically so that companies in all Member States are better equipped for the future. The regular monitoring of the situation by the European Commission shows that the rate of progress through selfregulation is generally slow and not sustained. Consequently, in order to bring about more rapid change and to ensure a coherent approach across the EU, the Commission has proposed legislative action.

The Commission proposal for a Directive on improving the gender balance amongst nonexecutive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges
On 14 November 2012, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive aimed at improving the gender balance on the boards of listed companies28. It sets an objective of 40% of the under-represented sex among nonexecutive directors to be achieved by 202029. Publicly owned companies will have two years less to comply (2018) while small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are exempt. The proposed Directive requires companies not meeting the objective to apply gender-neutral and unambiguous criteria in the recruitment of non-executive directors and thereby ensure that the appointment process is transparent and treats men and women equally on the basis of their relevant skills and experience and not their gender. In the case of equally qualified candidates, priority should be given to the under-represented sex. Member States have to establish effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions in case of non-compliance with these procedural obligations. Countries with measures already in place will be able to maintain them so long as they are at least equally effective in reaching the objectives of the proposed Directive and they will be free to go further. In addition to the above measures concerning non-executive positions, the proposal contains a measure addressing the gender balance among directors holding executive positions. Companies will be obliged to set their own selfregulatory targets for the representation of the under-represented sex among executive directors and to report annually on the progress made. The deadline will be the same as the one for reaching the objectives for nonexecutive directors (i.e. 2020 or 2018 for public undertakings). The proposal is now being discussed in the European Parliament and in the Council. In the European Parliament, there is a broad consensus on the objective of increasing women's representation in economic decision-making, including on corporate boards. On 20 June 2013 the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) voted to confirm the legal basis proposed by the Commission30. Furthermore, on 9 July 2013 the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
28

COM(2012) 614 final. See press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1205_en.htm PE510.654v01-00.

29

30

12

(EMPL) issued a favourable opinion on the Commission proposal. On 17 September 2013 a similarly favourable opinion was issued by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). Progress has also been made in the negotiations in the Council of the EU, as outlined in the progress report of the Irish Presidency discussed at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) on 20 June 201331. The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions have also adopted opinions, on 13 February32 and 30 May 201333 respectively, expressing clear support for the Commission proposal. The latter body confirmed that the proposal is in line with the principle of subsidiarity. Given that the reasons for the under-representation of women in business leadership are multifaceted, the Commission proposed in its Communication "Gender balance in business leadership: a contribution to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth"34 a set of accompanying measures to support Member States improve gender equality in decision-making at all levels35.

Recent measures taken by Member States

National governments have a key role to play in establishing an enabling environment that supports companies in their application of diversity management goals and gives women and men equal opportunities to develop their careers. The Commissions 2012 progress report on women in economic decision-making gives several examples of initiatives from around the EU taken to promote the gender balance in business leadership36. Since then, a number of national governments have taken further legislative or non-legislative measures that illustrate their commitment to improve the situation. In Denmark, an amendment to the Companies Act and the Financial Statements Act passed at the end of 2012 requires large companies to set targets and implement a policy for gender diversity from April 1 st 2013 and to report on those targets from 2014 37. In the UK, the corporate governance code was amended by the Financial Reporting Council in September 2012, following recommendations in the 2011 Lord Davies report and an extensive consultation process. From 1st October 2012, companies are required to report annually on their diversity policy, any measurable targets they have set and progress towards these 38. The 2006 Companies Act has also been amended to require companies to disclose the number of women and men in the organisation as a whole (including board and senior management) in their annual reports from October 2013. In Germany, in 2012, the Bundesrat (upper chamber of parliament) approved a proposal for a federal law applying a 40% quota for non-executive boards of listed companies and other large corporations. Four of the five parties currently represented in the Bundestag (lower chamber of parliament), including the CDU39, committed to introduce a proposal for binding legislation in their manifesto for the elections held on 22 September 2013. In Poland, on March 7th 2013, the Minister of State Treasury issued an executive ordinance which obliges state-owned companies to "choose adequately prepared members of supervisory boards, taking into account the balanced participation of women and men" 40. The Code of good practices attached to that ordinance establishes a target of 30% for 2015 and a priority rule for equally qualified women. No sanctions are envisaged.

31

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-584_en.htm Official Journal of the European Union C 133/68, 9 May 2013: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2013:133:FULL:EN:PDF ECOS-V/039. See http://www.toad.cor.europa.eu/AgendaDocuments.aspx?pmi=ha5jDW%2BOWSGA9v5ptBX3MbEqXkLHPBxNdLxAYnYqvwQ%3D&ViewDoc=true COM(2012) 615 final. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/gender-equality/news/121114_en.htm Women in economic decision-making in the EU: Progress report : http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/women-on-boards_en.pdf See http://xbma.org/forum/danish-update-new-rules-on-gender-quotas-in-boards-of-directors/ See http://www.frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Publications/Corporate-Governance/Feedback-statement-on-UK-Corporate-Governance-Code.aspx CDU = Christian Democratic Union, the major centre-right party in Germany.

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

See Principles of corporate governance in companies in the Treasury http://bip.msp.gov.pl/portal/bip/101/8163/Zarzadzenie_Nr_3_Ministra_Skarbu_Panstwa_z_dnia_28_stycznia_2013_r.html

40

13

Initiatives to support companies

As the possibility of legislative action at EU level and the surrounding public debate on the need to improve gender balance on boards gathers pace, a wide range of initiatives have been launched to support companies in meeting this objective. An argument often used against legislation or to justify the lack of progress is that there are not enough experienced women to fill the number of board positions required to achieve balanced representation. There is, however, no evidence to support this assertion and a number of organisations are making available lists of suitably qualified women. The Global Board Ready Women Database, available on LinkedIn, was established in December 2012 under the initiative of leading European business schools and with the support of European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding. The database, administered by the Financial Times Non-executive Directors Club41, already has more than 8000 board-ready women amongst its membership and lends support to companies seeking to recruit women to their boards. Other databases and groups of board-ready women have been constituted at national level, including in Denmark42, Belgium43, Italy44 and Luxembourg. The Female Board Pool, which operates in Belgium and Luxembourg is a platform to promote contact between existing and aspiring women board members and the companies interested in recruiting them45. Adapting appointment processes can help to ensure that the talents of women are not overlooked. Opaque hiring practices, including information regarding the vacancy and selection criteria, male dominated nomination committees and corporate boards, and an emphasis on the prior boardroom experience and social capital more commonly held by men all contribute to the difficulties that women experience in accessing top positions. A study published by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission in 201246 issued a number of recommendations as to how executive search firms could adapt their working practices to mitigate these barriers, expand the talent pool and reach women in the pipeline. They include: building databases that prioritise or at least flag out the profiles of available female candidates; developing deeper relationships with women in the pipeline, thus going beyond the short-term approach to placement often adopted when consultants are mandated to fill a specific opening; and engaging with talented women (either in middle executive ranks or in sectors such as professional services) before they are actually ready for board appointments, with the long-term aim of preparing them for roles as non-executive directors.

Advocacy groups are also important drivers of change and provide support through empowering women (e.g. through networking and mentoring organisations). In the UK, the 30% Club, established in 2010 by a group of company chairs committed to getting more women onto company boards in the UK, has set up action groups to look at how to help women progress through the pipeline47. In the Czech Republic, Odyssey a non-commercial mentoring project, supported by male and female leaders provides a platform to match aspiring and talented women with experienced mentors who can help them develop their potential 48.

41

http://www.non-execs.com/visitor-home/ http://www.womenonboard.dk/ http://www.womenonboard.be/ See http://www.readyforboard.com/ (in Italian) and http://www.pwa-milan.org/ready-for-board-women-2/ http://www.female-board-pool.com/ http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/rr85_final.pdf http://www.30percentclub.org.uk/ http://www.myodyssey.cz/en/

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

14

Actions launched by companies

All around Europe, companies are increasingly recognising the business case for gender balance in leadership positions and are taking diverse action to tackle the issue. Some of the steps that have been identified as being necessary49 include those listed below. It is important to associate men into the debate to ensure that the steps taken do not create resentment or undermine the achievements of women (e.g. to avoid perceptions that an individual has been promoted purely on the basis of their gender).

Commitment from top management to gender diversity goals and to change corporate culture this signals that gender diversity is a company priority and a red thread running through the company approach to human resource management. Thorough research into career trajectories of men and women; collection of data, surveys and analysis at company level this allows for the identification of inequalities. Programmes to support the advancement of women including mentoring schemes, sponsorship, networking programmes, use of external coaches and leadership skill building programmes or board level internships to provide women with the necessary experience to be considered for a board appointment. Indicators, targets and monitoring once the size of the problem is understood, indicators can be developed, targets set and monitored. Measures to help both women and men reconcile work and family responsibilities this means challenging the culture of presenteeism and introducing more flexible work arrangements and/or child-care where possible, establishing support for these measures, options to work from home or bank overtime and changes in attitudes.

The European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), made up of around 50 heads of multinational companies based in Europe, has developed two initiatives to improve the representation of women in leadership positions: Participating members of ERT propose candidates for a database of ready qualified women for nonexecutive positions maintained by three executive search firms. Companies are encouraged to declare, on a voluntary basis, targets for the participation of women throughout the company50.

To fight the glass ceiling in France, an annual publication will rank the SBF 120 companies (an index of the 120 most actively traded stocks in France, which includes all CAC 40 stocks, i.e. the stocks in the French benchmark index51) according to the representation of women in senior management positions 52. In the UK, a campaign called Opportunity Now organised by the charity Business in the Community, seeks to recognise and spread best practice to enable business to improve diversity in the pipeline and in executive positions53. Eight awards were announced in April 2013. KPMG, a global consultancy company, received two: the award for commitment to flexible working, and the champion award for the work by board member and partner Melanie Richards in promoting gender diversity initiatives within the business 54. In Spain, Ferrovial, a multinational transportation infrastructure company, has an action plan for gender equality which specifically addresses the need to facilitate womens access to top management responsibilities. The equality

For example: Equality pays off, European Commission, 2012 (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/equality-pays-off/company-guide/index_en.htm); Women on Boards, UK government commissioned report, 2011 (http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-law/docs/w/11-745-women-on-boards.pdf); McKinsey and Company: Women Matter, 2010 (http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/swiss/news_publications/pdf/women_matter_2010_4.pdf); Women Matter, Making the breakthrough, 2012 (http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/swiss/news_publications/pdf/Women_Matter_2012.pdf); The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity , Catalyst, 2007 (http://www.catalyst.org/publication/82/the-bottom-line-connecting-corporate-performance-and-gender-diversity)
49 50

See: http://ertdrupal.lin3.nucleus.be/women/

51

The CAC 40 is a benchmark French stock market index representing the 40 largest companies by market capitalisation listed on the Euronext Paris exchange. See: http://femmes.gouv.fr/briser-le-plafond-de-verre-action-2/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter http://opportunitynow.bitc.org.uk/ http://opportunitynow.bitc.org.uk/showcase2013

52

53

54

15

plan, which has been in place since 2009, is embedded into the overall strategic plan for corporate responsibility. It was drawn up in consultation with relevant trade unions and is revised annually55. In Denmark, DONG Energy is a signatory to the charter for more women in management issued by the Danish Ministry for Gender Equality56. The company has put in place initiatives to help women who are already in management positions to continue their journey up the career ladder and to ensure that women with the potential to lead are identified and developed. It also evaluates its recruitment process in order to attract and retain female employees and managers57.

1.3 Central banks and EU financial institutions: more efforts are needed
National central banks: women still outnumbered by more than four to one
On average across the EU, men account for more than four out of every five (81.4%) members of the most important decision-making bodies in national central banks and women less than one (18.6%) ( Figure 8). However, the situation varies between countries. Balanced decision-making, with at least 40% of each gender, exists in the central banks of Finland and Slovenia as well as those of Iceland and Norway outside the EU. However, there are also five Member States (Cyprus, Lithuania, Austria, Portugal, and Slovakia) in which not a single member of the main decision-making bodies is female. Figure 8 - Representation of men and women in national central banks, 2013
100% 80% 60% Gender balance zone 40% EU-27 average, 18.6% 20% 0% Women Men

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

8.3%

5.9%

5.6%

20.0%

41.7%

40.0%

29.4%

28.6%

25.0%

25.0%

23.1%

22.2%

22.2%

21.4%

21.4%

20.0%

18.2%

18.2%

16.7%

14.3%

11.1%

11.1%

57.1%

40.9%

33.3%

FI SI SE BG DK PL MT BE HU IE LV ES NL EE FR DE CZ LU RO EL IT UK CY LT AT PT SK

IS NO MK RS HR TR

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

The level of female representation in the highest decision-making bodies of central banks within the EU has remained more or less unchanged since 2003 (the first year for which comparable data were collected), fluctuating between 16 and 18% (Figure 9).

55

See http://report2011.ferrovial.com/en/index.asp?MP=330&MS=2178&MN=3&pag=3 http://www.kvinderiledelse.dk/om-charteret.aspx See Dong Energys 2012 annual report.

56

57

33.3%

7.1%

0%

16

Figure 9 - Share of women in the decision-making bodies of national central banks, EU-27, 2003-2013
50% Gender balance zone
40% 30% 20%
0.10

(0.10)

(0.20)

10%
0%

17.2%

18.6%
(0.30)

(0.40)

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Figures cover all 27 EU Member States except: 2003 (missing CZ, LT, MT and PL) and 20042006 (missing DE).

EU financial institutions: no sign of progress

At EU level three financial institutions (The European Central Bank, The European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund) are respectively responsible for implementing economic and monetary policy and providing lending and support for EU businesses and projects. In 2013, the combined governing boards of these institutions have a total of 57 members, and just 3 of them (5.3%) are women ( Figure 10). The governing council of the European Central Bank comprises the six members of the executive board plus the governors of the central banks of each of the 17 euro area countries. All of them are men. There are two women on the board of governors of the European Investment Bank, which is made up of one representative from each Member State (usually the Minister of Finance), and one on the board of directors of the European Investment Fund, which has seven members. Although the total number of members of the three governing bodies has grown over the past decade from 36 to 57 (due to accession of new Member States), the number of women members is the same now as in 2003 (the first year for which comparable data were collected) and the overall proportion of women has never exceeded 11%. Figure 10 - Representation of women in governing boards of European financial institutions, 2003-2013
50%

European Investment Fund (14% or 1/7)

European financial institutions

40% 30% 20%

10% 0%

European Central Bank (0% or 0/23)

European Investment Bank (7% or 2/27)

5.3% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

17

The European Parliament has called, in a number of resolutions, for more women in governing positions in the central banks and financial institutions in Member States and noted that it is deeply concerned about the absence of women in the ECB's executive board58. In its 2012 Communication, the Commission has also encouraged Members States to improve the representation of women59. While the appointment of members of the ECB Executive Board is, according to the EU Treaties, a competence of the European Council, it is important that any new monetary or supervisory authorities ensure a better representation of women in their decision-making bodies.

58

European Parliament resolutions P7_TA(2011)0223; P7_TA(2013)0073; P7_TA(2013)0176 COM(2012) 615 final.

59

18

2 Politics: slow progress

2.1 European Council: a long way to go
The European Council was created in 1974 to provide an informal forum for discussion between Heads of State or Government but was given a more formal role to provide the impetus and general political guidelines for the development of the Union by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Then, on 1 December 2009, when the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, the European Council became one of the seven institutions of the European Union and its composition was enlarged to include a permanent President and the President of the Commission. At that time, the European Council included just two women amongst its 29 members: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany and Dalia Grybauskait, President of the Republic of Lithuania. That number is now up to four: the previous two plus Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Prime Minister of Denmark, and Alenka Bratuek, Prime Minister of Slovenia (Figure 11). Figure 11 - Representation of women in the European Council, 2009-2013
50% Gender balance zone
40% 30% 20% 10% 7% 0% Dec-09
Source: European Council

14%

Jun-10

Dec-10

Jun-11

Dec-11

Jun-12

Dec-12

Jun-13

2.2 European Commission: representation of women increasing

The first College of Commissioners (the Hallstein Commission) convened in 1958 was an entirely male body and the College remained that way until the second Delors Commission in 1989 when Christiane Scrivener and Vasso Papandreou were selected to represent France and Greece respectively. More recently, since President Barrosos insistence on female candidates in 2009, one third (33%) of the Commissioners are women (Figure 12). Figure 12 - Representation of women in European Commission over the last 25 years
100% 80% 60% 40% Men Women

20%
0%

12%
1989 -1992 2nd Delors Commission

6%
1992 -1994 3rd Delors Commission

25%
1994 - 1999 Santer Commission*

25%
1999 -2004 Prodi Commission

29%
2004 - 2009 1st Barroso Commission

33%
2009 - 2014 2nd Barroso Commission

Sources: European Commission. Figures show the situation immediately after Commission selected. * The Santer Commission resigned en masse in March 1999. The interim President prior to the Prodi Commission was Manuel Marn.

19

2.3 National governments

Progress in womens participation
In May 2013, women accounted for 27% of senior ministers in national governments (Figure 13), so that on average across the EU they are represented in government at the same rate as in the national parliaments that they represent but are still outnumbered by men by a ratio of almost three to one. Three EU Member States have parity governments in which the numbers of men and women are equal or differ by only one: France, Denmark and Finland. The same is true in Iceland and Norway. Gender balanced governments (at least 40% of each gender) also exist in Sweden, where women account for more than half of senior ministers, and in Austria as well as in Liechtenstein. The governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are also close to achieving balanced representation. However, women account for less than one in ten members of the cabinet in Greece, Slovakia, Estonia, Cyprus and Hungary, as well as in Turkey and FYROM. Figure 13 - Representation of women and men in national governments (senior ministers), 2013
100% Women: >40% 30-40% 20-30% 10-20% <10% Men

80%
60% Gender balance zone 40%
EU-27 average, 27%

20% 0%
8% 8% 7% 6% 9% 54% 50% 48% 47% 43% 38% 38% 38% 30% 29% 29% 27% 24% 21% 20% 18% 18% 18% 15% 13% 13% 13% 10% 50% 50% 40% 26% 18% 4%

SE FR DK FI AT BE NL DE IT ES LV LU BG SI PL UK RO CZ PT LT IE MT HU CY EE SK EL

IS NO LI RS HR MK TR

Source: European Commission, database on women and men in decision-making. Data refer to the situation in May 2013. Note: Senior ministers are those with a seat on the Cabinet or Council of Ministers.

The level of female representation in national governments has improved through time. The share has increased by an average of 0.7 percentage points per year since the end of 2004, the first point from which data are available for all 27 EU Member States (Figure 14). Figure 14 - Representation of women in national governments (senior ministers), EU-27, 2004-2013
50% Gender balance zone 40% end-2004 May 2013 27% 21%

30%
20% 10% 0%

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Senior ministers are those with a seat on the Cabinet or Council of Ministers. 2004 is the first point from which data are available for all 27 EU Member States.

20

An unequal allocation of portfolios

BEIS typology of government functions
Basic functions Economy Infrastructure Socio-cultural functions Foreign and internal affairs, defence, justice Finance, trade, industry, agriculture Transport, communications, environment Health, education, social affairs, employment, family, culture, sports

The men and women nominated for positions in government tend to be allocated different types of portfolio (Figure 15). The BEIS typology distinguishes four broad categories of government function (see box). Amongst senior government ministers from across the EU, men are more likely to have responsibility for basic functions such as foreign and home affairs, defence and justice (42% of male ministers have portfolios of this type compared to 26% of female ministers). Women are more likely to be allocated socio-cultural portfolios including health, education, and social affairs (43% compared to 20% of men). Men are slightly more likely to be allocated portfolios with economic functions (26% of men, 20% of women) but there is little difference for infrastructure functions (12% vs. 11%). Figure 15 - Distribution of men and women in government by type of portfolio, EU-27, 2013
Women (n=129) Men (n=341)

B Basic functions
E Economy I Infrastructure S Socio-cultural functions

26%

20% 42%

43% 12%
20%

11%

26%

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Data cover senior ministers (those with a seat in the cabinet or council of ministers) in the national governments of all 27 EU Member States. Data refer to the 2nd quarter of 2013.

The representation of women in government (senior ministers) increased overall by 6 percentage points between the last quarter of 2004 and the second quarter of 2013. This improvement was only 5 pp for basic functions compared to 8 pp for socio-cultural functions (Figure 16). This means that the unequal allocation of portfolios with basic and socio-cultural functions, to men and women respectively, has widened slightly over the period. In May 2013, women accounted for 27% of all senior government ministers but their distribution by type of portfolio means that they account for 19% of ministers with basic portfolios and 23% of those with economic portfolios compared to 45% of those with socio-cultural portfolios. Figure 16 - Share of women senior government ministers by type of portfolio, EU-27, 2004 and 2013
50% 40% 30% 2004 2013

45%

37%

27%
21% 13% + 6pp
Total

20% 10% 0%

19%

23%
15% +8pp
Economy

26%

20%

+4pp
Basic

+8pp
Infrastructure
th

+7pp
Socio-cultural

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Data refer to the 4 quarter of 2004 (the first point from which data are available for all 27 EU Member States) and the 2nd quarter of 2013. All figures are rounded so that percentage point changes may appear to differ from the difference in the shares in each year.

21

2.4 National, regional and local assemblies

National parliaments: just 27% women
In the second quarter of 2013, the single or lower houses of parliament in the 27 EU Member States comprised 73% men and just 27% women. This is 5 percentage points higher than the level ten years ago (22%) and although the trend since 2003 has mostly been positive on an annual basis, the rate of change has been slow (Figure 17). The share of women representatives has increased by an average of just 0.5 percentage points per year. Figure 17 Share of women in national parliaments (single/lower house) in the EU, 2003-2013
50% Gender balance zone 40% 30%

20%
10% 0%

27% 22%

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Figures shown are the average of all available quarterly data.

The EU figures conceal some significant differences between countries and whilst some already have quite well balanced parliaments, others need to take note that they are lagging behind and consider a response ( Figure 18). Three countries Sweden, Finland and Spain already have at least 40% women in parliament, with Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands almost at this level. On the other hand, women account for less than 20% of members of parliament in Cyprus, Romania, Malta, Ireland and Slovakia and less than 10% in Hungary.

Figure 18 - Representation of women and men in national parliaments (single/lower house), 2013
100%
80% 60% Gender balance zone 40%
EU-27 average, 27%

Women:

>40%

30-40%

20-30%

10-20%

<10%

Men

20%

0%

23%

44%

43%

40%

40%

39%

39%

34%

33%

31%

30%

29%

26%

24%

24%

23%

23%

22%

22%

21%

21%

19%

16%

14%

13%

13%

9%

40%

39%

34%

33%

26%

20%

SE FI ES DK BE NL SI DE IT PT AT FR LT PL LV BG UK LU CZ EL EE SK IE MT RO CY HU

IS NO MK RS HR LI TR

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making, data from the second quarter of 2013.

14%

22

Major political parties are mostly led by men

The situation of women in politics could be improved if more were involved in the leadership of political parties, where they can not only influence the political strategy of parties and the process of candidate selection, but also act as role models and mentors for others. In April 2013, men accounted for 89% of leaders of major political parties around the EU and women just 11%. There are more women amongst deputy leaders (35%). In sixteen EU Member States, not one of the major parties is led by a woman ( Table 3) and in five of these (Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary and Malta) all deputy leaders are also men. Table 3 - Share of women leaders of major political parties, 2012
% women leaders 40-50% 30-40% 20-30% 10-20% <10% 0% Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, United Kingdom, FYROM, Republic of Serbia, Iceland, Liechtenstein Countries Norway Germany, Denmark, Croatia Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Romania, Turkey Latvia, Slovenia, Finland, the Netherlands

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Major political parties are those with at least 5% of seats in the national parliament. Countries are ordered by decreasing share within each group, those falling on group limits are listed in the higher group.

Regional and local levels: slightly better gender balanced

There is a slightly better gender balance amongst politicians at regional and local level than at national level. Across the EU, women account for nearly a third (32%) of members of regional assemblies (2012 data) and the same share of local (usually municipal) councils (2011 data) compared to 27% in national parliaments (2013 data) (Figure 19). Balanced representation (at least 40% of each gender) has been achieved in four countries (France, Sweden, Finland and Spain) at regional level but only in one, Sweden, at local level. At the other end of the scale, in regional assemblies men heavily outnumber women in Hungary (91%), Italy (87%), Romania (85%), Slovakia (84%), Greece (83%) and the Czech Republic (81%). There are fewer extreme imbalances in local authorities with Ireland and Greece being the only EU countries in which women account for less than one in five representatives. The share of women in regional assemblies was already 30% in 2004 and has risen only 2 percentage points since. Figure 19 - Representation of women in local councils (2011) and regional assemblies (2012)
50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE UK HR MK TR RS IS LI NO
Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision making. Note: Regions are defined to be territorial authorities between the national and local level (but not necessarily with a hierarchical relationship) that are endowed with powers of self-government. On this definition, regional authorities do not exist in the following countries: BG, EE, IE, CY, LT, LU, MT, SI, MK, IS, LI. Data on local councils are not available for AT, RO, SK.

Local councils

Regional assemblies

23

Mechanisms to promote gender balanced representation

To improve the gender balance in politics, governments and political parties have to establish appropriate enabling environments and demonstrate a real commitment to achieving this aim. In this context, political parties can take, inter alia, voluntary steps to ensure that women are fairly represented amongst the candidates they put forward, whilst governments can, where appropriate, take legislative action to guarantee the necessary prerequisites are in place to encourage gender balance. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)s six-point plan for achieving gender equality in elected office demonstrates the range of actions that may be necessary to achieve gender balance depending on the starting point of the country concerned (Table 4). The Inter-Parliamentary Union60 also has a Plan of Action for Gender-sensitive Parliaments which identifies seven areas for action61. The first of these is to Increase the number of women in parliament and achieve equality in participation, which should be achieved through a range of possible actions, which include measures to ensure that parties select more women to run in winnable seats and amendments to electoral laws and national constitutions that provide for reserved seats, as well as campa igns to promote awareness of the importance of womens representation in parliament. Table 4 - OSCE six-point plan for gender equality in elected office Constitutional rights Electoral system Legal quotas Guarantee equal rights for women and men, including rights to the voting suffrage and to candidate nomination Reform the type of electoral system; proportional representation with large district magnitudes maximises opportunities for women Review laws regulating candidate recruitment processes for all parties; the use of reserved seats for women members or gender quotas for candidates generally expand womens representation Review internal candidate recruitment processes within each party; adopt fast track strategies in party rulebooks and regulations to achieve gender equality for nominated candidates Strengthen the skills and resources of women in the pipeline for elected office, with initiatives by parties, the media and NGOs, including knowledge networks, mentoring programmes, skills training and funding for women candidates Reform the rules and internal procedures within parliament, including the facilities and working conditions, hours of sitting, principles for leadership recruitment, and provision of childcare facilities

Party rules and recruitment procedures Capacity development

Parliamentary reform

Source: Gender Equality in Elected Office: A Six-Step Action Plan, OSCE, 2011

Quota systems can boost the rate of progress

In 18 of the 27 EU Member States one or more of the political parties with seats in the current parliament (situation in the second quarter of 2013) has a voluntary quota for the proportion of women candidates ( Figure 20). Voluntary party quotas apply in countries with low levels of female representation (e.g. Hungary and Cyprus) just as often as in countries with high levels (e.g. Spain and the Netherlands). Moreover, data monitoring the level of female representation in national parliaments do not suggest a consistent link between the existence of voluntary party quotas and the extent of progress made over the past decade. Voluntary party quotas exist in eight of the ten EU Member States that have made the least progress since 2003 as well as eight of the ten that have made the most progress62.

60

The Inter-Parliamentary Union is the international organisation of national parliaments. http://www.ipu.org/pdf/publications/action-gender-e.pdf

61

Note that some of the countries with voluntary party quotas but low progress since 2003 already had a relatively high level of female representation at the start of the period (e.g. Netherlands and Sweden).
62

24

Figure 20 - Changes in the representation of women in national parliaments, 2003* - 2013

50% 40% 30% Women in single/lower house (May 2013) Voluntary party quota Percentage point change since 2003* Legislative quota

34% 31% 26% 24% 21% 30% 40% 14% 43% 23% 22% 21% 24% 39% 16% 23% 13% 13% 40% 22% 33% 39% 19% 9% 44% 23% 29%

33% 34%

20%
10% 0% -10%

SI IT FR LT EL PT ES MT FI UK CZ EE PL BE IE LV RO CY DK LU DE NL SK HU SE BG AT

RS MK TR LI HR IS NO

Sources: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making (most figures); Inter-Parliamentary Union (2003 figures for CZ, LT, LV, MT, TR, HR, MK and 2006 figure for RS); Quota Project and OSCE (quota information). * Except Serbia (RS) - change since June 2006.

In the EU as a whole, the share of women in the 27 national parliaments (single/lower house) increased by an average of 5 percentage points between 2003 and 2013 but this average is just 2.3 pp for countries with no form of quota legislation, not much higher (3.5 pp) for countries with only voluntary party quotas, but significantly higher (10.3 pp) in countries where a legislative quota has applied for at least one election (Figure 21). Outside the EU, legislative quotas in two candidate countries (Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) have both had a dramatic impact on the level of female representation in parliament with both now having more than 30% women members, some two to three times the levels observed before the quotas were applied. Figure 21 - Average changes in the representation of women in national parliaments 2003-2013 by type of quota
All No quota Voluntary party quota(s) only Legislative quota

EU Non-EU All countries

0 5 10 15 20 Percentage point change

Sources: Figures are averages of changes shown in Figure 20. The average for legislative quotas excludes Ireland where the quota has not yet applied to an election (it is included in the group with no quota).

To be effective, voluntary party quotas would need to be adopted by the major parties and backed up by real commitment to translate candidate quotas or targets into electoral results. That would mean developing effective strategies to recruit and develop women candidates and internal procedures to ensure fair placement on party lists, or in winnable seats in case of a majoritarian electoral system. On the other hand, the evidence indicates that - on average - legislative quotas, which by default apply to all political parties, are effective in bringing about significant and rapid change. Eight EU Member States currently have a legislative quota in place ( Figure 20 and Table 5). Five of these feature amongst the ten countries having made the most progress in the level of female representation since 2003 while none feature in the bottom ten. Note that in Ireland, the quota system was introduced only in 2012 and has not yet applied to an election, and in Poland, the law came into force only a short time before the last election in 2011 and the lack of a rule governing the order of placement on candidate lists is thought to have contributed to the limited success so far.

14% 20% 26%

40% 39%

25

Table 5 - Summary of legislative quotas currently applicable to the nomination of candidates for parliamentary elections Country Belgium Greece Spain Ireland France Poland Portugal Slovenia Serbia FYROM Quota level and details Parity on party lists and placement mandate One third 40% 30% (after 7 years 40%) 35% 33% (exceptions for small towns) 35% (transition period 25%) 30% & placement rules One third & placement rules Enforcement mechanism List rejected None List rejected Financial sanctions List rejected Financial sanctions List rejected List rejected List rejected Year law passed 2002 2008 2007 2012 2000 2011 2006 2006 200463 200264 1st election applicable 2003 2009 2008 None 2002 2011 2009 2008 (25%) 2007 2002 Subsequent elections 2007, 2010 2012 2011 None 2007, 2012 2011 2011 2011 (35%) 2008, 2012 2006, 2008, 2011

Parity (within 2 percentage points) Financial sanctions

Sources: Quota project and OSCE (situation in May 2013).

Electoral systems can play a key role and can influence their impact
Amongst the factors affecting the achievement of gender balanced representation, the influence of the electoral system should not be understated. Some research has highlighted the fact that proportional representation systems (see box below), and particularly those with party lists, give under-represented groups a better chance of being elected. Indeed, analysis of elections around the world in 2012 shows that those based on proportional representation resulted in 25% women being elected compared to 14% for majoritarian systems and 17.5% from mixed systems65.

Types of electoral system and their interaction with quota systems A multitude of different electoral systems exist but they can be characterised into three main types as briefly described below. For further details, a 2011 European Parliament study provides a detailed description of the different types of electoral system and how these are used around the EU. Proportional representation (PR): each constituency elects several members which are allocated to the participating parties according to the proportion of votes received. There are different systems for determining which candidates are elected but the most effective (in terms of promoting equality) is the closed list system whereby the list of candidates from each party is fixed before the election and cannot be changed. Quota systems requiring a minimum share of each gender on candidate lists together wit h a zipper system (i.e. alternating men and women on the list) are most likely to ensure a fair representation amongst elected members. Majoritarian (plurality) systems: parties present one candidate per constituency and the person with the most votes at the end of the process is elected (there may be more than one round of voting). This system is not conducive to facilitating gender equality. Parties can put their preferred candidates in the most winnable seats and there is a strong tendency for incumbents to be re-elected because they are well known to voters. Mixed systems: combine elements of PR and majoritarian systems.
63

Amendment passed in 2011. Ibid. Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union: http://www.ipu.org/press-e/pressrelease20130305.htm

64

65

26

Within the European Union, the case of France demonstrates how the effectiveness of a legislative quota can be influenced by the type of electoral system employed 66. The parity law passed in 2000, and reformed in 2003 and 2007, fundamentally requires parties to have equal numbers of men and women amongst candidates in all elections but applies differently depending on the type of electoral system in use 67. For elections to the European Parliament, regional and local councils, which all use a list-PR system, gender parity on lists, and the use of a zipper system is obligatory. For elections to the National Assembly, which use a single-member (majoritarian) voting system, parity amongst candidates is optional. The different results are striking. The latest list-PR based elections have produced 46% women amongst French representatives in the European Parliament and near parity in regional councils (49% women and 51% men) whereas the National Assembly has just 26% women 68.

Raising awareness and maintaining debate are also important

A study of gender equality in political and business decision-making in the five Nordic countries69 concludes that raising awareness and maintaining a social-political debate have been crucial to improving gender balance in decision making. In particular, the report notes the importance of end uring pressure from womens organisations and widespread media coverage of gender issues. Womens organisations, therefore, continue to be important actors in promoting change in the EU.

66

For further information see the case study on France in: Electoral Gender Quota Systems and their implementation in Europe , European Parliament, 2011.

In 2013, France took further action to ensure that equal numbers of men and women are elected as representatives in cantons (first applicable to the 2014 elections), whilst the requirements applicable to electoral lists for municipal council elections will be extended so that they are applicable to all municipalities with 1,000 inhabitants or more (previously 3,500). See http://femmes.gouv.fr/un-an-de-progres-pour-les-droits-des-femmes-les-actions-realisees/ and http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/pdf/rap-info/i0667.pdf
67

Elections to the Senate use a mixture of electoral systems depending on the number of senators elected from each department. Currently 22% of senators are women.
68

Gender and Power in the Nordic Countries with focus on business and politics, Kirsti Niskanen (Ed.), Nordic Gender Institute (NIKK), 2011: http://www.west-info.eu/files/nordic1.pdf
69

27

2.5 European Parliament: 2014 is an opportunity

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) representing more than 500 million citizens of the European Union, currently comprise 64% men and 36% women. The share of women in the European Parliament (EP) is significantly above the average for national parliaments (27%) and close to being gender balanced. In 2014, European citizens will elect a new European Parliament, a new European Commission will be appointed and various high profile posts will be filled across the EU Institutions. 2014 will be the next opportunity for political parties and Member States to improve gender representation in top positions. An example of practical action is the campaign launched in November 2012 by a cross-party coalition of Members of the EP with the support of the European Womens Lobby. By signing the so-called 50/50 declaration, they called on Member States, European political parties and the European Institutions to take action in order to achieve gender balance in European decisionmaking (see below). The declaration is open for signature to all MEPs, decision-makers and other interested stakeholders.

The 50/50 Declaration for gender balance in European decision-making

The Declaration calls on: Political groups in the EP to nominate one female and one male candidate for President of the EP, and to ensure gender parity in the nomination of chairpersons within Committees, as well as in the composition of the Bureau; European political parties to promote and ensure gender representation in their decision-making bodies and promote women candidates for decision-making positions in the EP; National political parties to compose their electoral lists in such a way as to ensure gender parity in outcome at the 2014 European Elections; Each Member State to nominate one female and one male candidate to the College of Commissioners and for all top jobs in the EU institutions; The Member States and Council of the EU to promote and ensure gender parity in the executive board and top positions of the European Central Bank; The European Council to put women in decision-making high on the political agenda.

For further information see: http://www.womenlobby.org/spip.php?article4332

A third of Member States have at least 40% women MEPs

Although 36% of MEPs are women, there are significant differences in the proportions elected by each Member State. Already over a third of countries have at least 40% women MEPs: Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal and Spain (Figure 22). In fact, 8 of the 13 Finnish MEPs are women (62%) so that it could be said that men are slightly under-represented. At the other extreme, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic both have less than 20% women and Poland and Italy less than 25%.

28

Figure 22 - Representation of women and men in the European Parliament, 2013

Women:
FI SI EE MT NL DK FR SE IE PT ES SK DE RO HU EU-27 LT LV CY BG EL BE AT UK IT PL CZ LU
0%

<20%

20-40%

40-60%

>60%
50% 50% 50%

Men
62%

Number of MEPs
13 8 6 6 26 13 74 20 12 22 54 13 99 33 22 754 12 9 6 18 22 22 19 73 73 51 22 5 80% 100%

46% 46% 46% 45% 42% 41% 41% 38% 38% 36% 36% 36% 33% 33% 33% 33% 32% 32% 32% 32% 23% 22% 18% 17% 20% 40% 60%

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Data refer to the situation in May 2013.

In general, the ranking of countries by the share of women is similar to that for national parliaments and where there are exceptions these tend to be small countries with few MEPs where each individual member contributes significantly to the overall figure. For example, both Estonia and Malta have 3 women out of 6 MEPs (50%) compared, respectively, to 21% and 14% women in the national parliament. France is the only large country (with more than 50 MEPs) where there is a significant difference (more than 10 pp) between the share of women MEPs (46%) and members of the national parliament (26%). This disparity has been attributed largely to the different type of electoral system employed for the two elections (see above).

The long-term trend towards gender balanced representation in the EP

The European Parliament has been directly elected for five year terms since 1979, although its size and composition have changed substantially in line with the growing number of Member States 70. In the first Parliament, nine Member States elected a total of 410 MEPs (16% women) and over the years the proportion of women has risen by an average of 3 percentage points per 5-year term to reach 35% after the 2009 elections (Figure 23), a figure that has now increased to 36% following some replacements.

70

The composition further changed on 1st July 2013 when Croatia joined the EU. Prior to that date, Croatia had 12 observer MEPs of which a third were women.

29

Figure 23 - Representation of women and men in the European Parliament, 1979-2014

100% 80%
60% 40% 20% 26% 1994 - 1999 30% 1999 -2004 31% 2004 - 2009 Men Women

0%

16%
1979 - 1984

18% 1984 -1989

19%
1989 - 1994

35%
2009 - 2014

Sources: European Parliament; European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Figures show the situation immediately after each election.

Decision-making bodies within the European Parliament

A number of key decision-making bodies support the functioning of the European Parliament (Table 6). The proportion of women participating in these bodies varies from 40% in the College of Quaestors, which has 5 members, to 17% in the largest body, the Conference of Delegate Chairs. Overall, taking all bodies together and ignoring some cases where the same person appears on more than one body (e.g. President and Quaestors), it is estimated that women hold just over a quarter of positions (25/99). Table 6 - Political bodies within the European Parliament Body Conference of Presidents Bureau Role Organisation of the EP agenda; defining responsibilities of committees/ delegations; managing external relations. Members 10 20 5 23 41 Of which women 2 (20%) 5 (25%) 2 (40%) 9 (39%) 7 (17%)

Rule-making body with power in administrative, budgetary and organisational matters. College of Quaestors Responsible for financial and administrative matters on behalf of MEPs. Conference of Ensures cooperation between the various Committees of the EP. Committee Chairs Conference of Co-ordinates the work of delegations handling relationships between the EP and national parliaments. Delegation Chairs
Source: European Parliament (situation in May 2013).

30

3 Public administrations: some cause for optimism

3.1 National public administrations: edging closer to gender balance
On average across the EU, the top two levels of officials working in national ministries and other government departments comprise 36% women and 64% men (2012 figures) 71. This represents a gradual improvement of 0.5 percentage points per year since 2007 when women accounted for exactly one third of top civil servants. However, the overall figure conceals a difference in the share of women and men in the first and second levels of the hierarchy. In 2012, women accounted for 37% of the second levels of officials but only 29% of the highest level. The long-term time series is only comparable from 2007 onwards and since this date the share of women amongst level 2 administrators has risen by 3 percentage points but there has been little change at the top level (Figure 24). A slight dip in the share of women in 2012 compared to 2011 might be linked to cutbacks in public sector jobs. Figure 24 - Share of women in the top two levels* of (non-political) administrators in national administrations, EU-27, 2003-2012
50%

Level 1
40%

Level 2
34%

37%

30% 29% 20% 29%

10%

0% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007* 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. * Data cover the top two levels of administrative (non-political) positions within each ministry. The Commission database has a mapping table showing the ministries and positions covered at the first and second level in each country. There is a break in the series in 2007 due to a methodological review that changed the positions covered in each level for each Member State in order to improve comparability between countries (e.g. in terms of the numbers of people covered per department/ministry which previously varied considerably). A further review in 2009 also made some changes to the positions covered but had less of an impact.

At country level, there are already 11 EU Member States that have gender balance (at least 40% of each gender) in the top two levels of their administrations. Women hold more than half (but less than 60%) of senior positions (levels 1 and 2 combined) in Slovakia (57%), Slovenia (53%), Latvia (53%), Bulgaria and Romania (both 52%). There are a further six countries where women hold at least 40% of posts in the top two levels: Estonia, Sweden, Greece, Lithuania, Finland and Poland. On the other hand, women remain significantly under-represented in the top two levels of the hierarchy in Belgium (11%), Luxembourg (13%) and Germany (17%). The proportion of women in the top level of the administration is lower than that in the second level in all countries except Germany (21% level 1 vs. 16% level 2) and Spain, where there is little difference (33% vs. 32%). Indeed, only three EU Member States have at least 40% women in the top level (Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria) and in the majority of EU Member States (16 of 27) men hold at least three-quarters of the highest positions (Figure 25). In

Data cover the top two levels of administrative (non-political) positions within each ministry. The Commission database has a mapping table showing the ministries and positions covered at the first and second level in each country.
71

31

Belgium and Malta men hold more than nine out of ten top positions and in Luxembourg all of them (though only 5 positions are counted, fewer than in any other country). In the second level, ten Member States have achieved gender balance with at least 40% of each gender. There are two countries where men are under-represented marginally in Latvia (39% men, 61% women) but significantly so in Slovakia (14% men, 86% women). While, at the other end of the scale, there are three Member States in which women still account for less than one in five positions in the second level: Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. One of these, Belgium, has recently taken legislative action to address the gender imbalance in its public administration, as has France (see box below). Figure 25 - Share of women in the top two levels of (non-political) administrators in national administrations, 2012
100% Women Level 1 Men

80%
60%

40%
20%

EU-27 average, 29%

0%
7% 0% 8%

33%

29%

52%

36%

41%

46%

20%

37%

36%

20%

29%

39%

25%

33%

22%

23%

30%

22%

22%

13%

24%

13%

15%

14%

21%

25%

40%

33%

15%
32%

SK SI LV BG RO EE SE EL LT FI PL PT ES IT AT CY UK FR CZ MT NL IE DK HU DE LU BE

LI NO MK HR RS IS TR

100% 80% 60% 40%

Women
Level 2

Men

EU-27 average, 37%

20% 0%
41%
SK SI LV BG RO EE SE EL LT FI PL PT ES IT AT CY UK FR CZ MT NL IE DK HU DE LU BE LI NO MK HR RS IS TR

50%

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Countries are ranked by the share of women in the two levels combined.

France and Belgium: legislating for change On February 14th 2012 the French Parliament passed a law to progressively introduce quota legislation to the senior ranks of the civil service72. For the first two years (2013 and 2014) the quota is set at 20%, increasing to 30% from 2015 to 2017 and reaching 40% from 2018 onwards. Financial penalties will apply to any public body failing to meet the quota. Some 4,000 positions across the public sector are anticipated to be affected by the measure. A few months later in Belgium, on June 2nd 2012, an amendment to a Royal Decree set the ultimate aim of achieving a maximum of two thirds of either gender 73. As part of the reform, each department is now obliged to set out an annual action plan for achieving gender diversity and to report quarterly on the situation.

72

Law no. 2012-347, see: http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000025489865 See: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/article.pl.

73

33%

86%

54%

61%

52%

56%

53%

47%

46%

48%

44%

47%

32%

34%

32%

31%

31%

30%

31%

29%

27%

26%

25%

27%

16%

15%

11%

54%

38%

38%

37%

5%

0%

32

3.2 Promoting gender balance in the European Commission

The European Commission is taking action to ensure gender balance throughout the administration as part of a comprehensive strategy for equal opportunities between men and women covering the period 2010-201474. The strategy set mid-term and final targets for the proportion of women in senior, middle and non-management (administrative) positions by 2014 (25%, 33% and 43% respectively), recognising that in order for change to be sustainable it is necessary to boost representation of women from the bottom up in order to provide a pool of talent for later promotion. The targets are accompanied by corresponding recruitment objectives in order to increase the numbers of women at the rate required. In addition to the overall targets, each Directorate General has been assigned its own targets for middle management positions. By 1 October 2012, the percentage of women in management positions had increased to the extent that the European Commission had met or was on course to meet all three targets for 2012 75. It has been so successful in recruiting women in top jobs that on 1 October 2012 it had already exceeded its target for women in senior management for 2014 (Table 7). In McKinseys Women Matter 5 survey, presented on International Womens Day 2012, the European Commission was commended as a virtuous organisation according to a matrix designed to assess gender equality in the workplace. It recognises that the Commission is performing well in terms of womens representation in management and in terms of actual measures in place to promote diversity (such as programmes for womens development). Table 7 - Representation of women at three levels of European Commission European Commission Senior management Middle management Non-management (administrative) 1st Oct 2012 27.2% 28.7% 42.4% Target 2012 24.8% 27.7% 42.7% Target 2014 25% 30% 43%

Source: European Commission, Women on Boards Factsheet 4

European Commission, SEC(2010) 1554/3, December 2010. Communication to the Commission on the strategy on equal opportunities for women and men within the European Commission (2010-2014): http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/equal_opp/strategie_1554_en.pdf
74

European Commission, DG-Justice, 2012. Women on boards Factsheet 4: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/womenonboards/factsheet-general-4_en.pdf.

75

33

4 Judiciary: gradual improvement

4.1 National supreme courts: considerable variation between countries
At national level, the supreme court is the highest juridical authority in each country, though the actual name of the court76 and the scope of its jurisdiction varies between countries. In 2012, around one third (34%) of all supreme court judges in EU Member States were women and two thirds men, but the balance varies enormously between Member States. The proportion of women amongst supreme court judges has increased through time with the share of women judges rising from 30% in 2007 (the first year for which data are complete for all 27 Member States) to 34% in 2012, an average increase of 0.7 percentage points per year (Figure 26). Figure 26 - Share of women judges in national supreme courts across the EU, 2003-2012
50%
40% 30% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: Trend is an EU-27 aggregate, which is missing the following data: 2003 (BG, CZ, EL, LT, PL, SK); 2003-2006 (ES); 2003-2005 (SE, MT), 2004-2006 (IT).
34% women 66% men

According to the latest data from 2012, gender balanced supreme courts, with at least 40% of each gender, are to be found in Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden as well as in Croatia and FYROM (Figure 27). In all other countries, however, there remains a gender imbalance. In Romania, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Serbia women outnumber men and account for at least three-quarters of supreme court judges. In contrast, men, account for at least 90% of judges, in Portugal, Cyprus and the UK and only slightly less so (at least 85% men) in Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Malta and the Netherlands.

A list giving the name of the supreme court in each country can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/database/judiciary/supreme-courts/index_en.htm.
76

34

Figure 27 - Representation of women and men amongst judges of national supreme courts, 2012
100%
80%

Women:

>50%

40-60%

30-40%

20-30%

10-20%

<10%

Men

60%
Gender balance zone 40% 20%

EU-27 average, 34%

0%
86% 76% 75% 57% 56% 53% 44% 41% 35% 32% 28% 26% 26% 24% 23% 23% 22% 21% 18% 14% 14% 11% 11% 11% 8% 8% 5%
RO BG LU HU LV SK SI SE FR FI AT EL PL DK CZ LT IT DE BE NL MT ES IE EE UK CY PT
Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

Few women enter the higher echelons

The very top positions in the judiciary are largely held by men. In 2012 the presidents of supreme courts of EU Member States included 21 men (78%) and just 6 women (22%). There is a greater imbalance amongst presidents of other key courts at national level (Figure 28). Constitutional courts rule on whether legislation conflicts with the rights and freedoms of citizens outlined in the constitution. Administrative courts are concerned with ensuring public law is implemented correctly. These bodies do not exist everywhere (typically because the role is handled by the supreme court) but where they do, the majority are presided over by men. Just one of the nineteen constitutional courts (or 5%) in the EU is led by a woman (that in Slovakia) and two of the eighteen administrative courts (or 11%) those in Germany and Slovenia77. The situation is similar for public prosecutors (i.e. the most senior public official(s) responsible for the prosecution of criminal actions) amongst whom men hold nine out of every ten positions around the EU (90%, with women in charge only in Ireland and Romania). Taking all three of the top national courts together (supreme, constitutional and administrative), women accounted for 14% of presidents in 2012 (9 out of 64). Figure 28 - Gender imbalance amongst presidents of top courts and public prosecutors, EU-27, 2012
Women Supreme courts Men

22% (6/27)
5% (1/19) 11% (2/18) 10% (4/39) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Constitutional courts
Administrative courts

Public prosecutors

Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making.

See http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/database/judiciary/constitutional-courts/index_en.htm for a list of constitutional courts and http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/database/judiciary/administrative-courts/index_en.htm for a list of administrative courts.
77

75% 48% 42% 35% 17% 17% 16%

RS HR MK NO IS LI TR

35

4.2 European courts: little change over the past decade

The judicial system of the European Union comprises two courts - the Court of Justice, which is responsible for the interpretation of European law and its application across Member States, and the General Court78, which deals mainly with disputes brought by individuals and companies. It also includes the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, which deals with disputes between the EU and its civil service. The two courts are each presided over by a panel of 27 judges, one from each Member State, while the Tribunal has seven judges. Taken together, in May 2013, this group of senior judges from all around the EU is made up of 49 men (80%) and 12 women (20%). The Court of Justice of the EU, which is the highest authority, has 15% women judges (4 of 27). The representation of women amongst judges of EU courts has changed little over time, fluctuating around the 20% mark for the past decade (Figure 29). Figure 29 - Share of women judges in courts with jurisdiction at European level, 2003-2013
50% 40% European Court of Human Rights EU courts
Breakdown of % women in EU courts, 2013:

38%

Civil Service Tribunal: 29% General Court: 22% Court of Justice:15%

30%
20% 20% 10% 0% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Source: European Commission, Database on women and men in decision-making. Note: The Civil Service Tribunal came into existence in 2005 and is therefore not included in data before this point.

The European Court of Human Rights is an international court with jurisdiction over the member states of the Council of Europe and therefore has a wider geographical reach than the EU courts. The court is presided over by a panel of judges representing each of the member countries. In May 2013, 18 of the 47 judges were women (38%).

78

The General Court was previously known as the Court of First Instance.

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Conclusion
In the framework of the implementation of its Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (2010-2015), the European Commission monitors the participation of women and men in high-level decision-making positions. A review of the latest available data in the fields of economic decision-making, politics, public administrations and the judiciary shows encouraging signs of progress, with the proportion of women involved in leadership positions increasing in many areas. However, there is still room for improvement and there remain significant disparities between Member States. To achieve gender balance in boardrooms and/or elected assemblies, an increasing number of Member States have resorted to legislative measures. The evidence of subsequent changes shows that binding measures, or even public debate surrounding their possible introduction, can bring about more rapid improvements. The under-representation of women remains most acute in corporate leadership and since 2010, the European Commission, with the full support of the European Parliament, has launched a series of initiatives to address the problem. However, a review of the situation in March 2012 concluded that there had been insufficient commitment and progress through self-regulation and, following an extensive public consultation, in November 2012 the Commission proposed a Directive setting an objective of achieving 40% of the under-represented sex amongst the non-executive board members of publicly listed companies by 2020. Between 2003 and 2010 the share of women on boards increased steadily but slowly - from 8.5% to 11.8%, an average of 0.5 percentage points per year. Subsequently, the Commissions initiatives have brought the issue to the fore of the public debate and given impetus to progress. Since October 2010, the proportion of women on the boards of the largest listed companies around the EU has risen by nearly five percentage points to reach 16.6% in April 2013, an average of 1.9 pp/year or nearly four times the previous rate of change. The latest figure represents an increase of 0.9 pp in the six months from October 2012 and indicates that this accelerated progress is being sustained. This improvement is not evenly spread, however, and has been driven by developments in Member States that have introduced binding measures. In several countries progress has been more limited. The under-representation of women in corporate decision-making represents a significant economic cost to companies and to the economy as a whole, this at a time when Europe needs to fully exploit the talents of all parts of the workforce in order to ensure growth and ensure competitiveness. Women are also under-represented in the leadership positions of major financial institutions. The key decisionmaking bodies of national central banks are made up of 81% men and 19% women. At EU level, the governing boards of the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund include a combined total of just 3 women amongst their 57 members (5.3%). The European Parliament has expressed concern on this point, highlighting that there is not one woman on the governing board of the ECB. In politics, there has been a steady improvement in the gender balance in national parliaments and governments around the EU so that in May 2013, women accounted for an average of 27% of both elected members of national parliaments and senior government ministers. The level of female representation is better at European level with women accounting for 36% of members of the European Parliament and 33% of the European Commission. Both will be renewed in 2014, together with a number of other high profile positions within the European institutions, and this represents an opportunity for the Member States and political parties and all those putting forward, electing or appointing candidates to such posts, to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality in top positions. In the top levels of the judiciary and the civil service, there has also been some progress: women now account for 34% of supreme court judges across the EU and hold 36% of posts in the top two levels of national administrations. In both cases, however, the gradual improvement in the gender balance has not yet filtered through to the very top positions. The Commission remains committed to monitoring progress on the participation of women and men in decisionmaking and to supporting Member States in their efforts to bring about change. The Commission counts on the support of the European Parliament and Member States to adopt its proposal for a Directive to improve gender balance on boards. The proposal is balanced, leaving companies with the necessary flexibility to make their appointment decisions, while at the same time pushing them to consider a wider base of candidates, thereby giving the same opportunities for talented people.

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Annexes
A.1 Country codes
Code BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR IT CY LV Country Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark Germany Estonia Ireland Greece Spain France Italy Cyprus Latvia Code LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE Country Lithuania Luxembourg Hungary Malta Netherlands Austria Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Slovakia Finland Sweden LI NO Liechtenstein Norway RS IS Republic of Serbia Iceland TR MK Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Turkey HR Croatia Code UK Country United Kingdom

A.2 Companies data: sample size by country

The sample used to monitor the numbers of men and women on the boards of listed companies is based on nationally registered constituents of the main blue-chip index in each country (see methodology in section 1.1). The actual number of companies covered by the data collected for each country in April 2013 is shown in the table below. Number of companies covered 587 18 15 13 18 30 13 19 24 33 35 38 20 Number of companies covered 31 24 10 13 20 20 20 19 19 10 20 10 23 26 All countries 716 NO 20 RS IS 15 9 TR 50 MK 10 HR 25 Number of companies covered 46

Country EU-27 BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR IT CY

Country LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE

Country UK

38

EN

EN

European Commission - Directorate-General for Justice Women and men in leadership positions in the European Union, 2013 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union 2013 40 pp. 2129.7 cm ISBN: 978-92-79-30565-8 doi: 10.2838/50821

DS-02-13-142-EN-N

doi: 10.2838/50821