Norway and Board Diversity

We included a post today on the approach taken by Norway and Spain on gender diversity on the board of directors of public companies.  Both countries have legislatively required that boards consist at least 40% of women.

Apropos the topic, the Economist this week has a short piece on the subject.  It seems that the phase in period in Norway for meeting the requirement ended on January 1.  The legislation has shown significant impact, with 36% of all directors of public companies women.  Apparently, however, 75 of the approximately 480 public companies in the country have not yet met the requirement and are about to get a dunning letter from the government. 

Some companies have had trouble finding women with the requisite experience or knowledge of the relevant industry.  Apparently as a result, many companies rely on the same women directors.  As the article notes:  "Because of this, some of the best women have collected as many as 25-35 directorships each, and are known in Norwegian business circles as the 'golden skirts'.”

And, how are they doing?  Again, according to the article:

• Some people worry that their relative lack of experience may keep women quiet on boards, and that in turn could mean that boards might become less able to hold managers to account. Recent history in Norway, however, suggests that the right women can make strong directors. When a whistleblower at Statoil, the country's biggest firm, alerted managers in 2003 to possible illegal payments to a consultant to secure contracts in Iran, it was Grace Reksten Skaugen and two other women directors who called an extraordinary board meeting that resulted in the resignations of the chairman and chief executive. “Women feel more compelled than men to do their homework,” says Ms Reksten Skaugen, who was voted Norway's chairman of the year for 2007, “and we can afford to ask the hard questions, because women are not always expected to know the answers.”

Anecdotal, but not bad.