[Ws2-diversity] Gender Diversity on European boards: Realizing Europe’s Potential: Experiences and Best Practices

[Lousewies Vanderlaan]

Please find below the executive summary of a recent report on women on European boards and a link to the full report.  There is a key role for nominating committees. 

Happy reading,

Lousewies
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Realizing Europe’s Potential: Experiences and Best Practices, is a qualitative study on board gender diversity, based on interviews with twenty important business and governance leaders from across Europe, comprised of board members from large listed companies, institutional investors, and others. Key ndings include:

Both European companies and investors are increasingly convinced that
a well-diversi ed board adds value to the company. Board members from di erent backgrounds are more likely to approach issues from a broader variety of perspectives, leading to less ‘group-think’, more thorough decision- making and more e ective supervision. This applies to all types of diversity but board gender diversity continues to be an important area of focus.

There is a growing body of evidence which makes the business case that board gender diversity can provide a competitive advantage. Companies
with higher levels of board gender diversity can outperform in terms of employee productivity, innovation, customer reach, talent retention and risk management, by gender diverse boards setting the tone at the top in terms of strategy and culture. Diversity in the organization based on gender and other factors is increasingly seen as a key driver of sustainability for the long-term.

In addition to implementing best practices to improve overall Board gender diversity, many European companies are now sharpening their focus on developing the executive leadership pipeline for women. They are setting targets and implementing measurement frameworks to monitor and report on progress.

Board gender diversity provides a governance and management quality signal for an increasing number of mainstream institutional investors. Recent positive developments in disclosure and the quality and availability of data relating to gender and other aspects of diversity, is enabling investors to better factor diversity into investment analysis and decision making. Investors exercising their active ownership and stewardship responsibilities are increasingly factoring board gender diversity into their engagement and/or voting policies.

Investors report that the focus on gender diversity has contributed to a higher standard of professionalism by encouraging the nomination committee
to more fully consider the board’s needs in terms of the balance of skills
and experience. The focus on gender diversity has been combined with a push for increased international diversity, younger candidates and more diverse pro les with skills often linked to the emerging challenges faced by companies. 

> http://www.womenonboard.be/sites/default/files/EWoB-qualitative-WEB-3[4]-July 2016.pdf <http://www.womenonboard.be/sites/default/files/EWoB-qualitative-WEB-3%5B4%5D-July%202016.pdf>
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