The European Parliament is urging businesses to sign up to a campaign to include more women in important decision-making roles.

Euro MPs want to see more women represented in the board room and is warning companies that they must take advantage of an untapped potential of a well-educated female workforce or face legal consequences.

The Eu wants all publicly listed companies in the EU to register with the Women on the Board Pledge for Europe

If the campaign fails to win support, the EU is ready to take legislative action to improve standing for women at the head of businesses.

Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, said: “It is good news that the European Parliament supports the European Commission’s approach towards more women in economic decision-making positions. Today’s vote confirms that the Commission is acting at the right time and in the right way.

“We are taking the right approach because we want to give companies a last chance to act through credible self regulation.”

Women represent roughly 1 out of 10 members of the supervisory boards of the largest publicly listed companies in the EU and only 3% of the presidents of boards.

Across the EU, one in three large companies had no women at all on its board in 2010 despite women are earning college degrees than men – 60% of new university graduates in Europe are female.

Five EU countries have so far introduced legislative quotas to increase the number of women in business leadership: Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

One idea is gaining ground across Europe is a business case for gender equality.

Research shows positive correlations between diversity in boards and company performance.

A study of large companies indicates that the best companies in terms of work environment, innovation, accountability and profits were those with a higher proportion of women on boards.

According to their latest report, companies with a gender balanced composition can achieve an operational profit which is 56% higher than that of men-only companies.

This article  is filed under: Women Leaders, Discrimination, Boardroom

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