Female quotas needed to end old boys club culture of corporate Ireland

Posted by Bronwen Maher on January 13, 2011 at 11:58 AM

             Only one of 13 Anglo Irish Bank directors was female

The “old boys' club” corporate culture which has strangled the Irish banks and driven Ireland into the arms of the IMF should be brought to an end by EU legislation to ensure a better and fairer representation of women on the boards of publicly quoted companies, Nessa Childers MEP has said.
 
She said: “Today, I have written to Commissioner Reding urging her to fast-track legislation to bring about better representation of women on the boards of our large companies. Such a move would help clean out the insidious rot in Irish corporate culture which has contributed to the unprecedented economic collapse.
 
“Ireland should take a leaf out of Norway’s book, a progressive country where the boards of the largest listed companies boast female representation of 42% as a direct consequence of legally enforceable quotas.
 
"If we are serious about getting out of the crisis and making sure it does not happen again, then one essential element would be to make better use of women's talents and skills. Studies have shown that companies where women are well represented perform best financially.
 
"At the height of the bank fuelled property bubble in 2006, only one woman was serving on the board of the toxic Anglo Irish Bank. Just two of AIB’s 18 directors were women.  Only two of Bank of Ireland’s 14 Directors were women and it was a similar case with Irish Life & Permanent.
 
“I am convinced that a more gender-balanced Board of Directors would help to counter the macho culture, cronyism, string-pulling and golf buddy trips that we now know were such a key feature of our largest banks at Board and senior management levels. Likewise a female-dominated board would also not be desirable, gender balancing is the key.
 
"At the European level, we know that men account for nearly 89% of the board members in Europe's biggest listed companies. At the very top, the fact that only 3% of such companies have a woman as CEO seems incredible in this day and age.
 
"Several studies have shown that gender diversity pays off as regards performance. For example, a study conducted in Finland found that firms with a gender-balanced board are on average 10% more profitable than those with an all-male board. "

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