Female board membership at Europe’s biggest companies has more than doubled in a decade, approaching the level in the US, even as women represent just 5.4 per cent of directors who wield executive power.

Women held 20.3 per cent of board directorships at European businesses valued at more than €4 billion, compared with 15.6 per cent two years ago and just 8 per cent in 2004, London-based Egon Zehnder said today.

The consulting firm studied more than 350 companies in 17 European countries. The results placed Europe on par with the US, with 21.2 per cent, and compares with a non-Europe average of 11.6 per cent.

While women gained board seats in the biennial survey, efforts on executive board appointments are “stagnant,” Egon Zehnder said.

Women held about 1 in 19 of executive director positions in Europe, compared with 1 in 12 in the US.

“Plenty of work remains in identifying a wider pool of female board candidates as well as retaining executive-level women and assuring their advancement within organizations so there is ample readiness to pivot to the boardroom,” said Edwin Smelt, co-leader of the consultant’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Council. European governments, political parties and executive groups have increasingly pushed for more women to be appointed to boards.

In Britain and Ireland, the 30 Percent Club, founded by Helena Morrissey, is advocating for gender diversity without forced quotas, while in Norway a 40 per cent mandate resulted in a number of companies delisting from the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Bloomberg