LES FEMMES DANS LES CONSEILS DADMINISTRATION

Dvelopper des mesures incitatives

Christine Frchette
Prsidente-fondatrice du Forum sur lintgration nord-amricaine (FINA) Membre du conseil dadministration du Conseil du statut de la femme (CSF) de 1996 2005 Membre du conseil dadministration du Conseil des relations internationales de Montral (CORIM) et du Centre de recherche en tude internationale de lUniversit de Montral (Crium)

Mount Stephen Club, le 30 novembre 2006

Nous savons que la prsence des femmes au sein des conseils dadministration et des instances de direction du secteur priv est largement insuffisante et que la situation se doit dvoluer rapidement. Mais, que faire pour que cela survienne? Le rle de ltat doit-il se limiter montrer lexemple au sein de ses propres structures, tout en esprant que le priv lui embotera le pas? Ou ltat doit-il se montrer davantage directif? Nous verrons que nombreux sont les tats ayant constat que lapproche attentiste ne donnait point de rsultats satisfaisants. Certaines de ces initiatives adoptes ltranger et visant accrotre le nombre de femmes dans les CA et les instances de direction seront prsentes. Plus particulirement, nous nous attarderons aux tats suivants : o Lexprience de la Norvge o Lexprience de lEspagne o Lexprience du Royaume-Uni o Lexprience du Connecticut Finalement, nous nous attarderons aux leviers dintervention qui existent ou qui existeront sous peu - au Qubec. La prsentation alternera entre le franais et langlais, suivant les thmes abords.

1) Pourquoi la diversit est-elle prfrable?

Lorsque jai gradu de lcole des HEC en 1992, les femmes constituaient dj la majorit des diplmes au baccalaurat en administration des affaires. Cela nous laissait prsumer que dimportants changements allaient survenir dans le monde des affaires et dans les hautes directions des entreprises prives. Or, prs de 15 ans plus tard, la situation des femmes dans les instances de direction des entreprises canadiennes est non seulement dplorable mais stagnante. Ltude de Catalyst portant sur la prsence des femmes dans les conseils dadministration canadiens a dmontr que : Les femmes noccupaient toujours que 11.2% des siges des conseils dadministration dans les entreprises du Canada s Financial Post 500 en 2003. Cela reprsentait un progrs de moins de 1% par anne par rapport lanne 2001. Pire, plus de la moiti des entreprises (51.4%) navaient toujours aucune femme dans leur conseil dadministration, ce taux tant demeur le mme en 2001 et 2003. Mme les socits de la couronne (gres par ltat) ne comportaient que 23.7% de femmes parmi leurs conseils dadministration.

Certaines personnes ne comprennent toujours pas quelle plus value pourrait gnrer une prsence accrue de femmes sur les conseils dadministration. Certains croient que cette demande pour plus de femmes repose sur la prmisse voulant que les femmes soient de meilleures gestionnaires, ce qui ne les convainc pas. 2

 ces personnes, il convient de demander ce qui est prfrable entre les deux options suivantes pour la bonne gouverne dune entreprise ? A) Avoir un conseil dadministration compos uniquement de comptables.

Comptable Comptable Comptable

Comptable Comptable Comptable

Comptable

Comptable

Comptable Comptable

Comptable

ou B) Avoir un conseil dadministration compos notamment davocats, dconomistes, danalystes financier, dexperts en marketing et en ressources humaines ?

Avocat
Spcialiste des communications

conomiste

Scientifique

Spcialiste du marketin
Prsidence

Expert ressources

humaines

Analyste financier

Comptable Entrepreneur

Ingnieur

Poser la question, cest y rpondre. Il en va de la ncessit davoir des femmes sur les CA comme de lobligation davoir des comptences professionnelles et des grilles danalyses varies. Cela relve de la mme logique. La diversit des points de vue qui en dcoulent constitue une richesse pour la bonne gestion et la bonne gouvernance dune organisation. Dun point de vue plus financier, certains argumenteront, tel que le fait ltude Gender Diversity in Corporate Governance and Top Management and Financial Performance 1 publie en mai 2006, que les performances boursires des socits soucieuses de leur diversit dans la gouvernance ont t suprieures de 6 % de 2001 2004. Comme ces aspects ayant t abords par les confrencires prcdentes, jaimerais davantage vous entretenir des incitatifs ayant t dvelopps par dautres tats en vue daccrotre la place des femmes au sein des instances de direction.

2) Des expriences trangres inspirantes

Plusieurs des cas dexemple ici prsents ont t adopts rcemment. Il savre donc difficile ce stade de comparer leur efficacit respective. Mais, la prsentation vise davantage vous faire montre de la varit des mthodes qui ont t utilises pour atteindre un mme objectif. Comme vous le constaterez, les expriences trangres prsentes refltent diffrents niveaux dinterventionnisme. Certaines approches savrent particulirement contraignants alors que dautres constituent simplement des mesures dencouragement. ce chapitre, lapproche norvgienne savre certainement la plus spectaculaire. Il est noter quelle est galement, ce stade, la plus concluante au niveau des rsultats. Commenons par celle-l.

NORWAYS EXPERIENCE Tir dun texte de l Association of Profesional and Business Women www.europeanpwn.net/tht_wob/articles/story_on_norway.html Norway has enforced a 40% quota in all public committees since 1985, that is to say 20 years ago. The target was met by 1997, and today, women hold 44% of seats in such organisations. In Norway, all political parties (except the progressive party) have internal rules requiring between 40% and 50% of each gender on electoral lists. In 1999, a public hearing was launched to debate the issue of gender equality in the private sector, followed by a second hearing in 2001.
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Ral Labelle, Claude Francoeur et Bernard Sinclair-Desgagns, Gender Diversity in Corporate Governance and Top Management and Financial Performance, HEC Montral, Mai 2006, 35 pages.

The real catalyst came when the then Conservative Minister of Economics took a strong public stance on the issue on the basis that it was just good for business and the economy to have more gender diversity on Boards. A law was then passed in November 2003, giving companies until end 2007 to conform before sanctions were set in place. Who is concerned? The law covers state owned companies and privately owned public limited companies (there are around 500 on the Norwegian stock exchange). It does NOT apply to privately owned non-listed companies, which are the vast majority of Norwegian companies (over 160 000). What does the law say? Companies are required to have at least 33% to 50% of each gender depending on the size of the board. The 40% requirement applies to boards of over 10 members. These percentages are for the shareholder representatives. And for those who wonder, yes, one company did have to search for a male board member to reach the target! What are the sanctions? As of January 1st 2006, every new listed company must satisfy this requirement in order to register. Existing companies must conform by end 2007. Much has been made of the excessive sanction: company dissolution, in case on non-compliance. In fact, this dissolution sanction exists since 1976 for any company not satisfying statutory requirements such as accounts reporting for example. What are Norwegian companies doing? 1. The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) started a programme called Female Future, which ran from 2002 to 2005. CEOs of volunteer companies selected up to three executive women to benefit from boardroom competence training and networking. 2. Several lists of board ready women have been put in place:

What are the results so far in Norway? Norway has strengthened its lead now the leading country since the adoption of the law.
July 2005 Women among Board members Target companies having achieved the requirements. 16% 13% January 2006 18% 18% June 2006 28.8% n/a

Sweden (22.8%), Finland (20%) and Denmark (17.9%) are close behind.

LEXPRIENCE DE LESPAGNE Pour renforcer la place des femmes dans les entreprises, en politique et dans les lieux de dcision, le gouvernement espagnol de Jos Luis Zapatero, lequel est dailleurs compos d'autant de femmes que d'hommes, a adopt le 3 mars 2006, un projet de loi sur l'galit entre les sexes. 2 Sur le plan politique, cette loi tablit que : o les listes de candidats ne pourront pas comporter plus de 60 % de candidats d'un mme sexe. Soulignons que l'Espagne compte actuellement 36 % de femmes dputes, soit un niveau suprieur celui du Qubec et du Canada. Le PSOE, le parti au pouvoir en ce moment, s'est astreint la parit en 2004. Dans le domaine du travail, cette mme loi tablit que : o toutes les entreprises doivent sentendre avec les reprsentants des salaris sur des mesures tendant favoriser l'galit entre les femmes et les hommes et radiquer toutes discriminations en matire d'embauche, de promotion, de formation ou de rmunration. Le gouvernement espagnol a galement souhait susciter l'arrive dun plus grand nombre de femmes dans les conseils d'administration. Dans cette perspective, le gouvernement a tabli que : o les contrats avec ladministration publique espagnole favoriseront, offre gale, les firmes les plus "galitaires" du point de vue de la prsence des femmes sur les conseils dadministration. En ce domaine, lEspagne a une longue pente remonter puisqu peine 4% des siges des conseils dadministration sont occups par des femmes. En fait, moins de la moiti des compagnies espagnoles ont, ne serait-ce quune seule femme sur leur conseil dadministration. Il est encore trop tt pour savoir si cette loi incitative aura eu un impact significatif.

Source : L'Espagne va obliger les entreprises mettre en oeuvre la parit entre hommes et femmes.

LE MONDE | 04.03.06 | 11h34 Mis jour le 09.03.06 | 10h02

UK - A STRATEGIC TASK-FORCE MISSION TO INCREASE WOMENS REPRESENTATION ON FTSE 100 BOARDS

Tir dun texte de Stephanie MacKendrick, President of Canadian Women in Communications On line : www.parispwn.net/clubs/women_on_boards/women_on_b_steph_mac.html

In the United Kingdom, a coalition of business, academia and government has come together to initiate a multi-faceted program to improve the representation of women on the FTSE 100 companies. The initial focus has been to engage business leaders in discussion on the issue, with academics and government, i.e the Secretary of State for Trade and the minister responsible for the Women and Equality Unit. The initiative began informally as a group of women decided action was needed on the issue. They started with the idea of having a closed door meeting with as many FTSE 100 Board Chairs as possible to find out what the issues were impeding womens board appointments and to seek action on moving women into boards. They used their personal contacts to encourage Board Chairs and Chief Executives to participate in meetings and the invitations went out under the joint signatures of the Secretary of State for Trade and the Chair of the Shell Board. The group was able to get 17 FTSE 100 Board chairs to accept. The meeting started with a presentation of the Secretary of State for Trade. As a further incentive for attendance, companies who attended received the results of the FTSE 100 research and analysis, gaining a preview of where their company stood in relation to others, with regards to their Board Diversity. In taking forward the boardroom agenda, ministers ran a series of roundtables with leading business figures to tackle the issue of diversity in the boardroom. The Government also supported chairman mentoring scheme to encourage more women to apply for directorships. Over 30 FTSE have now signed up to the scheme. Why is this important for the UK government? 3

The Government wants to support UK businesses in being the most competitive in the world, and encourage them to use the skills of the entire workforce and recruit from the widest pool of talent The Government says that by not fully utilising the skills and talents of the available workforce, the economy loses out as it is operating below its productive potential

Source : www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk

What are the results so far?

Source : www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/boardroom_diversity/index.htm

The FTSE 2005 report showed that: 78 FTSE 100 companies, had women directors in 2006, up by 13% on the previous year. 86% of all UK companies have at least one woman on their board; Among all UK companies, percentage of women directors has shifted from 10% in 2004 to 11.4% in 2006.

When launching the FTSE 2006 few days ago, Meg Munns, Deputy Minister for Women mentionned:

Unfortunately the 2006 report shows that only 77 FTSE 100 companies now have women directors. It is only a loss of one, but the message communicated is not a positive one. These results are very disappointing, especially in the light of the progress we had
been making in seeing women achieve in the corporate environment.

In comparison to other European countries, UK is a Middle-of-the-Roaders country.

USA - THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT EXPERIENCE

In 2002, The State of Connecticut launched a "board diversity initiative" using as its instrument of change the $20 billion in assets in the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds. Fund officials pushed for diversity through dialog with the companies in which they invested, shareholder resolutions and proxy votes. Extract from a Wall Street Journal article published 2 years ago 4 : For years, corporate watchdogs have pushed the idea that corporate boards should be more diverse because it was the right thing to do and because it was good for business. But lately, the idea is getting a fresh impetus from efforts to improve corporate governance. The idea is simple: The more homogeneous a corporate board is, the more likely its members will move in lock step - and the less likely they will be to challenge management. Directors from different backgrounds, in terms of profession, industry, gender and race, are more likely to ask probing questions than are a CEO's friends and professional peers. "My first priority as treasurer is the bottom line," says Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier. Greater diversity leads to better corporate governance, which is good for Connecticut's investments, she says. "I regard diversity as key to the functioning of an effective board. In a complex global market, you need to pick from the largest pool of talent available to you," says Ms. Nappier, who is African-American.

How did the Retirement plans and Trust Fund proceed? The Fund adopted the following principles and Protocol:

Source : The Wall Street Journal Executive Career Site. On line : www.careerjournal.com/myc/diversity/20040817-blackman.html

CONNECTICUT RETIREMENT PLANS AND TRUST FUNDS DIVERSITY PRINCIPLES 5

Adopted by the Investment Advisory Council in April, 2006

(Extract)
Recognizing the benefits that diversity offers for the global business community, it is clear that individuals or firms in the financial services industry that develop a broader circle of people or entities with which they do business will have broader access to legitimate and lucrative business and investment opportunities, and the greatest probability of future success. Conversely, as local, regional, national and global demographics change, individuals and firms that operate in limited circles will likely fall farther behind. Therefore, it is in the CRPTFs longterm interest to seek increased diversity 6 among its vendors in a manner similar to the way in which it seeks the diversification of its portfolio assets, consistent with the Treasurers fiduciary responsibilities.

()

PROTOCOL
1. Financial services firms that wish to do business with the Connecticut State Treasurers Office shall, at the time of contracting, have in place or agree to adopt written policies that promote diversity in the workforce. Such policies shall demonstrate the firms commitment to workforce diversity in its policies on recruitment, hiring, training, promotion and retention, and shall recognize diversity as an enduring commitment, requiring ongoing efforts by the firm and periodic assessments of their progress. 2. Financial services firms that wish to do business with the Connecticut State Treasurers Office must disclose their firms workforce diversity statistics in a form prescribed by the State Treasurer during the RFP or search process. Workforce diversity shall be considered by the Treasurer when making her decision to recommend a firm to the IAC, and the Treasurers recommendation shall include her analysis and conclusions regarding the diversity profile of each firm recommended. 3. In addition to workforce diversity, the Treasurer shall consider a firms commitment to diversity principles in its procurement policies and practices; as well as the firms commitment to the communities it serves. () 4. To enable the Office of the State Treasurer to monitor and evaluate the efforts of firms in promoting and expanding diversity, firms that enter into contracts with the Connecticut State Treasurers Office shall agree to provide reports on their ongoing activities relating to diversity on a periodic basis upon request. In such report, firms may be asked to address any or all of the following components: () 4c) A report on the composition of its Board of Directors, including any changes made since the previous report.
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www.state.ct.us/ott/diversityprinciples.pdf As used herein, the term diversity encompasses efforts to expand opportunity to persons protected under state laws which bar discrimination in state contracting based on race, color, religious creed, age, marital status, national origin, ancestry, gender, mental retardation, physical disability and sexual orientation, but also to Connecticut-based firms, and to emerging firms which have been in business less than five (5) years.
6

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Lorsque lon adopte ce type dapproche, il faut sattendre ce que cela provoque certains mcontentements. Au Connecticut, le cas de lentreprise EMC, une grande entreprise qui produit des hardware , fait montre du type de vagues quil faut tre prt affronter. Extrait dun article de SocialFunds.com sur le cas de lentreprise EMC:

The computer hard drive giant continues to resist sharing its board diversity initiatives with investors, and now is petitioning the SEC to omit socially responsible shareowner resolutions from its proxy. Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier announced her filing of a shareowner resolution urging Massachusetts-based hardware and software manufacturer EMC to diversify its all-white, all-male board of trustees. Ms. Nappier, the nation's only African-American woman elected to a state office, serves as the principal fiduciary for the state's $20 billion pension fund, the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds (CRPTF). EMC filed over 300 pages in legal briefs petitioning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to omit all the resolution from its proxy. "We don't think the resolutions are necessary or productive, and we don't think they are in the shareholders best interest." Timothy Smith, senior vice president at Walden illustrated EMC's definition of diversity. "[T]he Directors do have diverse backgrounds," EMC said in its legal statement to the SEC. "[T]he Directors range in age from 43 to 71 and previously held or continue to hold positions at various businesses across different industries 7 . For many years, the EMC board included a woman-Maureen Egan, the wife of founder and former chair Richard Egan. When the Bush administration appointed Mr. Egan Ambassador to Ireland this fall, the board was left with two vacancies.

Source : Baue, William, EMC Maintains Firewall on Its Board Diversity Efforts. www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/762.html

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QUEN EST-IL DU DES MESURES DVELOPPES AU QUBEC ?

Quen est-il de lexistence de leviers dintervention visant accrotre le nombre de femmes sur les conseils dadministration au Qubec? Sans prtendre tre exhaustive, on peut avancer quil existe (ou existera sous peu) au moins trois leviers dintervention pour accrotre la prsence des femmes dans les CA et les instances de direction: 1- les nouvelles rgles de gouvernance des socits dtat adoptes rcemment par le gouvernement du Qubec ; 2- les votes des investisseurs institutionnels sur des rsolutions dactionnaires et; 3- un futur portefeuille de gestion appel PDG. Ces mesures seront-elles suffisantes pour changer la donne?

1- Nouvelles rgles de gouvernance des socits dtat qubcoises Comme vous le savez, le ministre Michel Audet annonait en avril dernier, dans lnonc de politique Moderniser la gouvernance des socits dtat la mise en uvre dune mesure visant rendre obligatoire dici cinq ans la parit des femmes et des hommes au sein des conseils dadministration des vingt-quatre grandes socits dtat du Qubec. Il faut saluer cette initiative bien quelle soit dune porte limite puisquelle ne concerne que les socits dtat.

2- Les votes dinvestisseurs institutionnels en regard de rsolutions dactionnaires Le pouvoir de lactionnariat qubcois permet dexercer une pression sur les conseils dadministration des entreprises rfractaires aux changements oprer. ce chapitre, les pargnes des Qubcois dtenues par des investisseurs institutionnels, tel la Caisse de Dpt et Placement du Qubec ou encore le Fonds de las FTQ, constituent dimportants leviers dintervention pouvant tre mis contribution pour parvenir accrotre la diversit au sein des CA et des instances de direction du secteur priv. Mais, encore faut-il que ces investisseurs institutionnels exercent leurs droits de vote de manire progressiste en regard de rsolution portant sur la ncessit davoir plus de femmes dans les instances de direction des entreprises. Les votes des investisseurs institutionnels exercent un pouvoir dinfluence important sur les hautes directions des entreprises. En effet, lors dune assemble dactionnaires, il nest pas ncessaire quune rsolution bnficie de lappui de la majorit absolue pour entraner des changements. Souvent, le seul fait quune rsolution bnficie de 10 ou 15% dappui au sein de lassemble est suffisant pour que les dirigeants prennent acte dune demande dun groupe dactionnaires. La crainte quun groupe dactionnaires insatisfaits dcident de vendre leurs parts, et entranent une baisse du cours de laction de lentreprise est souvent suffisante pour rpondre aux changements demands. la page qui suit, vous trouverez un exemple de rsolution dactionnaires soumise par la United Methodist Church, dans le cadre dune assemble dactionnaires de lentreprise Activision.

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Example of a recent proposal submitted to Activisions stokeholders

The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church (Illinois) which states that it owns 95,398 shares of the Company's common stock, has notified Activision in writing that it intends to present a resolution for action by the stockholders at the 2006 Annual Meeting. The text of the resolution and the supporting statement submitted by the stockholder are as follows:

STOCKHOLDER PROPOSAL

DIVERSITY ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS - 2006 Activision

WHEREAS
Activision currently has a distinguished board of eight people, all of whom are white and one of whom is female. We believe that our Board should take every reasonable step to ensure that women and persons from minority racial groups are in the pool from which Board nominees are chosen; therefore be it RESOLVED that the shareholders request the Board: 1. in connection with its search for suitable Board candidates ensure that women and persons from minority racial groups are among these it considers for nomination to the Board. Publicly commit itself to a policy of board inclusiveness, including steps to be taken and a timeline for implementing that policy. Report to shareholders, at reasonable expense, by December 2006: a. On its efforts to encourage diversified representation on the board; b. Whether, in the Nominating and Corporate Governance committee's procedures, diversity is included as a criterion in selecting the total membership of the Board.

2. 3.

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Statut des propositions dactionnaires soumises durant lanne 2006 et portant sur la diversit dans les instances de direction

Le tableau qui suit dresse la liste des entreprises ayant t la cible dune proposition dactionnaires portant sur la diversit au sein des CA et instances de direction. Il est noter que lorsquune proposition est retire, cela constitue souvent une avance. En effet, une proposition retire signifie souvent quune entente est intervenue entre lentreprise et le proposeur, la satisfaction de ce dernier.

Entreprise vise Activision American Greetings Astoria Financial Bed Bath & Beyond Bunge Cheesecake Factory Commerce Bancorp Danaher Overseas Shipholding Group Panera Bread Torchmark Viacom THQ

Statut de la Proposeur proposition General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church Retire Catholic Healthcare West X Calvert Asset Management Company Catholic Healthcare West X Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Epicospal Church Retire Calvert Asset Management Company X Calvert Asset Management Company Retire Calvert Asset Management Company X Retire 10,43% Retire Retire Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Epicospal Church Calvert Asset Management Company Christus Health United Methodist Church General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church

X : Proposition non soumise, raison

inconnue : Proposition soumise, rsultat inconnu Source : Groupe investissement responsable (GIR) - www.investissementresponsable.com

ce jour, en 2006, seules des entreprises amricaines ont t la cible de propositions dactionnaires portant sur la diversit. En 2005, quelques entreprises canadiennes ont reu des propositions dactionnaires lies la diversit dans les instances dirigeantes. Ces propositions avaient t essentiellement prsentes par lorganisme Ethical Fund bas Vancouver.

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3- Un nouveau portefeuille : le PDG

Au dbut de lanne 2007, un nouveau portefeuille dinvestissement sera cr. Il sera compos uniquement de socits publiques ayant une bonne cote de gouvernance en ce qui a trait la prsence des femmes. Ce portefeuille sera dnomm le PDG, un acronyme pour Performance, Diversit, Gouvernance . Le produit Le PDG permettra aux investisseurs dinvestir dans un portefeuille dont les titres rpondront des critres thiques. Valeurs Mobilires Desjardins, conjointement avec la Chaire de gouvernance et de juricomptabilit des HEC ont retenu les critres suivants pour la slection des titres du portefeuille: Les titres des socits slectionnes devront avoir la cote buy ou strong buy du service de recherche et danalyse quantitative de Valeurs Mobilires Desjardins. Les titres des socits slectionnes devront avoir une cote minimale de gouvernance de 50 et plus, suivant une grille dvaluation tablie par HEC Montral. Les titres des socits slectionnes doivent rpondre aux critres de diversit soit, une reprsentativit minimale de 5 % et plus de femmes participant leur conseil dadministration ou leur haute direction.

Le taux plancher de 5% montre quel point il faut viser bas en terme de prsence des femmes sur les instances de direction pour parvenir runir un nombre significatif dentreprises dans ce portefeuille! Il est noter quil sagit ici dune stratgie o lon vise encourager par des investissements des entreprises ayant dj commenc intgrer quelques femmes. Une autre approche pourrait consister plutt choisir de cibler des entreprises nayant ce jour aucune femme sur leurs conseils dadministration et de soumettre des rsolutions dans leurs assembles dactionnaires des rsolutions les obligeant y intgrer des femmes.

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Conclusion
Lorsque lon regarde la situation prvalant dans dautres pays occidentaux, on constate que le Qubec pourrait tre plus proactif et exigeant en ce qui a trait la prsence des femmes au sein des conseils dadministration et des instances de direction du secteur priv. Le gouvernement a certes lanc un signal positif avec sa nouvelle loi sur la gouvernance des socits dtat mais il est loin dtre acquis que le secteur priv entendra ce signal et modifiera son approche. Mme lorsque des mesures dencouragement sont mises en place, les rsultats semblent parfois mitigs. Ds lors, les retombes dune stratgie volontariste risquent de se faire attendre encore longtemps. Comme premire mesure mettre de lavant, il mapparat que nous devons faire sortir le dbat entourant cette problmatique des rseaux de femmes. Il nous revient, en tant que femmes concernes par cette question, de nous assurer que des hommes soient amens devoir se positionner sur la question. Il importe que des dirigeants dentreprises, particulirement ceux qui ne comportent pas ou peu de femmes, soient amens expliquer les raisons qui soustendent ce choix. Tant que nous ne discuterons de ce problme quentre femmes, nous ne convaincrons que des converties. Il est certes ncessaire de prendre un temps pour rflchir la question entre nous mais, tt ou tard, il nous faudra investir les rseaux masculins si lon veut qu terme, les choses changent.

Christine Frchette cf@fina-nafi.org

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