Emmanuelle David, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 15-04-2013. This report deals about women on boards of directors and especially about the impact of the European quotas policy in France.

1. Emmanuelle David
Keywords: Analysis of public Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
policies, Woman on boards of Análisis de Políticas Públicas, Grupo 3411
Contact:
directors, Situation in France, Policy
Network, quotas’ policy emmadavidsachet@gmail.com
http://www.scoop.it/t/les-femmes-dans-
les-conseils-d-administration-en-france
2013
http://fr.slideshare.net/emmadavidsachet
Women on boards of directors
On November the 14th2012 has been accepted Viviane Reding’s
proposition about the imposition of 40% of women in the
companies ‘boards of directors before 2020. This is an example
of the way a public actor can force private actors to apply a
A report preparedfor:
policy. We call this way of acting “policy network”.
Supported by Cristina Muñoz-Reja‘s work about the policy
network notion and its application with the quotas policy in
Europe, this report will try to give a clear presentation about
the situation in France and about the answers that the
European policy could bring.

2. 1 Emmanuelle David
Report about the situation of equality in the boards of directors of
French companies and the effects of the European policy of quotas
The notion of policy network
Working on public actors such as French government and European Commission and their
interaction with private actors such as companies involves the development of a specific set of key of
analyze. In that case, we need to call upon the notion of policy network. The term policy network
connotes “a cluster of actors, each of which has an interest, or “stake” in a given…policy sector and
the capacity to help determine policy success or failure” (Peterson and Bomberg 1999: 8). Plus, in
Cristina Munoz-Reja’s work we can find the following definition: “The notion of policy networks has
been proposed to face the difficulties that the traditional analyses, based in the primordial action of
bureaucracy, experienced when they tried to explain the policies of distinct sector’s fields.” (Jordana
1995). Considering this notion through the scope of public policies, it means that these last ones are
the fruit of the interaction of public and private actors and that the Administration is not anymore
the actor who dominates alone the origins of public policies. The European measure about quotas in
the boards of directors of companies matches with this policy especially because it’s the intervention
of the public sector into the private area. However, problems in France about sex equality have been
taken in consideration by the government several times.
Policy network and sex equality in France
France occupies the 37th place in the global world ranking of women in the national
parliament –right after Afghanistan. Moreover, in the State’spublic function even if women represent
51,7% of the total number of employees, they occupy only 20,3% of the direction posts1. Talking
about the companies, we realize suddenly that somehow women reached a better situation in the
private sector than in public administration. Indeed, in 2008, 32,3% of chief executive and directors
of private companies are women with huge disparities such as 39,2% in France and 9,7% in Cyprus2.
In 2011 there were 20,8% of women in the CAC 40’ boards of directors3. The aim of the European
measure is to reach the rate of 40%. In this field, France can be named as an example: in France,
women represent 25,1% of the managers of the biggest French firms which appear in the top 200 of
1
Source : Rapport annuel sur l’état de la fonction publique, 2009-2010 / Rapport 2011 de l’Association des
administrateurs territoriaux de France / Etude sur la parité entre les femmes et les hommes au sein de la police
nationale réalisée en juillet 2011 par le Syndicat des commissaires de la police nationale
2
Source : enquêtes sur les forces de travail, Eurostat, in Chiffres Clés 2010, l’égalité entre les femmes et les
hommes, tab. 13, p.21
3
Source : Capitalcom,Bilan des AG 2011
Women’s on boards of directors: Policy Networks

3. 2 Emmanuelle David
the biggest firms in the world4. Therefore, it is one of the first countries in terms of equality in the
boards of directors, thanks to firms such as Axa, Total and BNP Paribas.
However, France is part of the 18 European countries in which has been adopted a quotas policy. On
the 17th of January of 2011 has been promulgated the law “related to a balanced representation of
women and men within the boards of directors and the supervisory boards and to professional
equality”. This text plans the progressive instauration of quotas to go toward feminization of the
directional instances of big companies. The actors which are concerned by this policy are:the boards
of directors and the supervisory boards (but not the executive committees) of the companies listed
on the stock exchange and of the public companies. Concretely, the law includes two steps: firstly,
three years after the promulgation of the law, the concerned instances will have to include at least
20% of women. The boards of directors which do not count with any women at the moment of the
law promulgation will have to designate one within the six next months. Secondly, six years after the
law promulgation the rate of feminization of the directional instances will have to reach 40%.
The lack of respect of these quotas will be followed by the invalidity of the nominations (except those
of women). An amendment voted by the French National Assembly, which included also the
invalidity of the deliberations in the case of the lack of respect of the quotas has been suppressed by
the Senate.
A mechanism of financial sanctions has also been planned, especially with the possibility of a
temporary suspension of the “attendance fees” (remuneration for the participation in the boards of
directors).
As we have seen, the feminization of the boards of directors is now legally required in France and it
has been the object of a debate in Europe. This is admittedly a demand of societal equity but it is also
a factor of economic efficiency, because diversity is source of performance even if it is still a
challenge. This idea has also been developed by Cristina Muños-Reja while talking about McKinsey &
Company’s 2010 report untitled “Woman Matter”, which underlines to help the evolution of the
situation, that some public policies can be adopted in order to support the application of the quotas
measure. For example, specific professional training, technical support, assumed visibility of women
who are candidate for power positions especially in the social networks, and the commitment of the
companies’ directors.
Furthermore, there is an underlying trend which goes for the feminization of the boards of directors,
particularly due to the pressure of ranking and of ethical pension funds: for example of the magazine
Fortune which published about the “100 companies where it is good to work” giving an important
part to the question of the promotion of women in the pyramid of power, or the initiative of Catalyst
which rewards each year the companies who are innovates in the approach of Diversity. As we can
4
Source : étude menée par le Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), publiée le vendredi 22 février
2013
Women’s on boards of directors: Policy Networks

4. 3 Emmanuelle David
see, private actors are also part of this policy, which makes it really part of a “policy network”, that is
to say involving private and public actors at the same level.
Conclusion
As we discussed in this report, and as Cristina Muñoz-Reja developed it, in the field of parity,
the Administration is not anymore a sufficient actor to complete successfully public policies. Without
cooperation between private and public actors, it is nowadays impossible to make advancements in
terms of equity. The research about parity in the boards of directors will be a real factor of efficiency
only if this investigation calls to mind about the recruitment habits that it is time to make change.
Additionally to the European and the French measures about the quotas of women in boards of
directors we have to consider that private actors have a role to play.
To go further than the mere record of the absolute necessity to open the boards of directors to
women, we can notice that in a report from the French Business School “Essec”, the development of
the presence on social networks is peculiarly emphasized. Indeed, they say that women are much
less present in social media than men, and that it is also a hindrance against the good development
of a professional carrier.
It is though important to put the emphasis on this new means of communication and to use them as
much as possible as they can be a helpful tool for parity. Public actors as well as private companies
have to understand, thanks to investigations and to reports like this one that they have to work
together and to use the Internet to develop policy networks and reach a better level of parity.
Bibliography
Cristina Muñoz-Reja “Politica europea sobre cuotas de mujeres en los consejos de administración de
las empresas: policy networks”, 2012 http://fr.slideshare.net/CristinaMunozRejaRuiz/informe-sobre-
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12th of April 2013
French Observatory of parity/ Observatoire de la parité entre les femmes et les hommes, « Repères
statistiques » http://www.observatoire-parite.gouv.fr/egalite-professionnelle/reperes-statistiques-
31/ last access 30th of March of 2013
Jordana Jacint « El análisis de los policy networks: ¿ Una nueva perspectiva sobre la relación entre
políticas públicas y Estado?”, GAPP, 1995: 77-87
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http://www.mckinsey.com/client_service/organization/latest_thinking/women_matter last access
4th of April 2013
Viviane de Beaufort and Marie Khayat « Femmes dans les conseils d’administration en France,
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2012 http://www.essec.edu/faculty/showDeclFileRes.do?declId=10392&key=__workpaper__ las
access 30th of March 2013
Women’s on boards of directors: Policy Networks