Corporate boards lack females

Prague-based attorney Katie Schoultz didn't mind having to learn how to play golf and drink like a sailor in order to get ahead in a male-dominated industry. What she and a growing number of her peers do mind is the continued absence of women in top management positions well into the 21st century, a disparity that has sparked a debate in Europe on whether or not regulatory measures are needed to ensure a fair representation of women in high-level corporate jobs.

"When the law changes here, the population reacts. It has a very quick effect, and that's why I believe in quotas," Schoultz said. "And maybe after a few years the legislation wouldn't need to exist anymore because attitudes will have changed."

A quota for the amount of women serving on the boards of publicly traded companies is just one of many measures currently under consideration by the European Commission (EC) to address the dearth of female voices in boardrooms across the Continent.

The Czech Republic, along with Italy, Belgium and Germany, lags behind the rest of Europe in terms of women in top management of big companies, according to a recent study conducted by the consulting firm Deloitte. Women make up only 7.6 percent of statutory bodies of the 100 largest Czech companies.

In a 2011 report by the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, leaders called for legislation to be introduced this year enforcing female representation in corporate management bodies of 30 percent by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020. European Commissioner Viviane Reding has said she plans to present the legislation by March.

Those in favor of Europe-wide quotas point to the success some individual countries have achieved through legislating minimum requirements. Norway introduced a law in 2006 requiring 40 percent of the boards of publicly traded companies to be made up of women, and though there was a grace period, strict sanctions for noncompliance, including dissolution of the company, have encouraged meeting the target quickly. Norway's example was soon followed by Spain, France and the Netherlands, but it is unlikely such dramatic steps would be taken domestically or that companies would react well to a dictate from the EC, experts say.

Jan Spáčil, director of the Corporate Governance Center at Deloitte and partner with Ambruz & Dark, says studies show more equitable representation by women on corporate boards is usually more profitable for the company than not, and quotas are clearly the only way to guarantee fairer representation, but he warns measures like these lack public support in the Czech Republic, which may make them less effective.

"Quotas implemented under such circumstances could help achieve the desirable number of women on boards, but it would not ensure that women will be really a part of the decision-making process and that they will be provided with sufficient support and respect after they are hired for these positions," Spáčil said. "The system of gender quotas has a certain history in Norway, but it is not certain that the Czech Republic is in a position for such a step."

Critics of gender quotas like the one enacted in Norway say they force companies to promote less qualified "token women" to high-level jobs instead of the most skilled workers. Schoultz counters that some boardrooms are full of token employees in any case.

"How many men are on boards because they play golf well or because of their family name? It's a nonargument from my point of view," she said.

Even within the community of professional women and female business owners, there is disagreement about the role and consequences of quotas, with strong opinions on both sides.

"It might play into the hands of those who don't want women to get ahead," said Jo Weaver, a Prague-based businesswoman and entrepreneur. "It would be almost like in the old days when they said, 'She slept her way to the top'."

Though in disagreement about the question of quotas, Weaver and Schoultz work together in the Women in Business Group, a part of the International Business Forum. The group meets regularly with Czech and foreign professionals to discuss ways to improve women's chances of reaching the higher echelons of corporate management. The women agree legislative changes are also needed, specifically to reform the maternity leave system.

A generous maternity and parental leave allowance that is considered almost sacrosanct by most of Czech society may be working against women who want to advance in their career, they say. By law, mothers are entitled to 28 weeks of maternity leave and then they can take up to four years of parental leave.

Though the parental leave can be split with the father, mothers don't work at all in 38 percent of households with children under 14, according to the most recent data from the Czech Statistical Office released in June last year.

"A lot of women here still like the idea of having it all," said Weaver. "If you want to be a director of a company, you must accept that you might not be able to take three years off, so something has to give a bit."

Weaver and Schoultz say introducing incentives for employers to offer part-time opportunities to mothers and an investment in affordable daycare for children under 3, which can be very difficult to find, would help women strike a healthy work-life balance without foregoing their career.

Professional Prague women also say more mentoring for midlevel female managers is needed to guide women on a career path that will ultimately lead to a top position and also provide a pool of skilled candidates for companies wanting to diversify their managing boards, with or without quotas.

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com