#GAReads | How Many Board of Directors Seats Are Held By Women?
photo credit: Nastuh Abootalebi, via Unsplash
“How Many Board of Directors Seats Are Held By Women?”:
In September 2018, Jerry Brown, Governor of California, signed a law that requires public companies with headquarters in California to have at least one woman on their Board of Directors by the end of 2019. Furthermore, by the end of 2021, if the company has five Directors, they must have at least two women on the Board and, if six or more Directors, they must have at least three women. Companies will be fined $100,000 the first year they do not comply with these requirements and $300,000 for each additional year.
This is not a new or radical concept outside of the United States - in Europe, 24 countries have enacted similar quotas. Norway introduced quota legislation in 2006 that required public companies to have 40% female board representation by 2008.