Gender equality in listed companies "stagnating"

Men still dominate the boardrooms of listed companies in the Netherlands, according to the Female Board Index 2023. The 88 listed companies have not managed to increase their number of female executives and supervisory board members, Mijntje Lückerath-Rovers, the professor of corporate governance behind the Index, told NRC. She spoke of “stagnation.”

Only 15 percent of the members of the executive boards at the listed companies are women - the same as last year. Of the 30 new positions within the boards, four went to women.

At the same time, three female directors left. A massive 61 of the 88 listed companies still do not have a single woman on their boards.

Women are better represented on the supervisory boards. There, they hold 39 percent of the positions, also the same as last year. That means the women’s quota that the Dutch government implemented last year has been met. It calls for one-third of supervisory board member positions to be filled by women.

The government hoped that the quota would correct the imbalance between men and women in high positions - more women on supervisory boards would help appoint more women to the boards of directors. But according to Lückerath-Rovers, that’s not happening in practice.