Eu Boardroom Quota – Glass Ceiling V/S Meritocracy

The EU Commission has adopted the proposal for a European law so that women represent 40% of company board members by 2020. This has sprung up questions amongst various groups regarding the importance of reservation v/s meritocracy.

There are various stakeholders that can be affected by this decision of the EU Commission. These include:

• Female employees

• Male employees

• Members of Board of Directors

• Shareholders of companies

• Governments of other countries outside EU

• Council of Ministers of EU who are going to vote on the issue

I will discuss from the viewpoint of the male employees. The reactions of male employees to the decision take by the EU Commission are mixed reactions:

Positive reactions:

• Some male employees are of the opinion that this decision is in line for their companies’ overall good. They feel that it is only fair to give women employees equal opportunity for career growth. They believe that employees cannot be disallowed growth prospects just because of their gender.

• There are some male employees who agree with the above given set of male employees, but they believe that instead of 50-50 proportion of gender quota in the board, the reservation for women in the boards should be equal to the proportion of women working in their company/industry sector. For eg, in a mining company, women employees may hardly be 10 % of the total employees. Thus, in this case, it would not make sense if 40 % of the board of directors is women.

Negative Reactions:

• Male employees in the EU states have a perception that women in EU have always been given equal opportunities, and that they do not deserve reservation. They feel that such a quota for women can be applicable in other countries, but not in EU.

• There are many male employees who believe that the decision to reserve 40 % seats on the Board of Directors will lead to compromise on merit. Thus, these male employees are unhappy about such proposals.

• Some male employees feel...