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The percentage of women on boards is growing slightly, and the Czech Republic still lags behind the European average
Prague, 1 November 2019 – Women are still underrepresented on corporate boards. Their share has grown by 1.9 percentage points to 16.9% globally over the last two years, but men hold 94.7% of chair positions. These are the results of the sixth issue of Women in the Boardroom. The study maps the situation in 66 countries of the world including the Czech Republic, whose representation of women on boards (13.8%) lags behind the global as well as the European average (25.8%). However, compared to 2016 (9%), it is an increase of more than a half.
“In lieu of enforcing quotas through the law, there is another opportunity to focus on supporting women in their career aspirations and growth. Many companies do not enable women to come back to part-time employment after maternity leave, as such arrangements could be administratively and financially burdensome for the company. Thus, it is difficult for women to further develop their skills and capabilities after a short-term career break.” says Diana Rádl Rogerová, Deloitte’s managing partner.
Out of the six countries with the highest share of women on boards, five are in Europe – Norway (41%), France (37.2%), Sweden (33.3%), Finland (31.9%) and Belgium (30.5%), which is preceded only by New Zealand (31.5%). The United Kingdom has approximately half fewer women on boards (22.7%) than first-ranking Norway, but still more than the United States, which has moved only by less than four percentage points since 2016 to 17.6% of women on board.
In terms of industries, most women in Europe hold positions on boards of companies in the sector of life sciences and healthcare (28.2%), consumer business (27.7%) and financial services (26%).
The detailed study Women in the Boardroom can be found here.
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