More women on Dutch company boards

The number of women on the management boards at Dutch companies listed on a stock exchange increased from 8.5 percent last year to 12.5 percent this year. The proportion of women on supervisory boards increased from 26.8 percent to 29.5 percent, according to the Female Board Index by Mijntje Lückerath, professor of Corporate Governance at the TIAS School for Business and Society.

This is the second year in a row that the number of female executives and supervisory directors increased. "I see this as a break in the trend," Lückerath, who has been tracking these figures for 13 years, said to NOS. "Last year, Eumedion, the advocate for institutional investors, made the appointment of women a spearhead. I think it had a lot of effect, companies do now want any hassle about their appointments. The pressure is already there. It's gradually becoming embarrassing when the top of a company consists entirely of men."

The government plans to implement a legal quota stating that listed companies' supervisory boards, which supervise the management of a company, have to be at least 33 percent female. The goal is for this law to take effect in January 2021. There will be no quota on the board of directors, which manages companies' day-to-day activities.

Currently 51 of the 94 listed companies already meet that quota, compared to 30 last year. There are also 15 companies with at least 33 percent women on both their executive and supervisory boards.

Insurer ASR and technology company Nedap have 50 percent women in the top positions. PostNL and publisher Wolters Kluwer both have 44 percent. Envipco, on the other hand, does not have a single female working on either board, despite making three new appointments this year. Envipco makes machines for the collection of deposit bottles.