EU talks quotas for women in the boardroom

The European Union is moving closer to introducing mandatory quotas for the number of women on company boards after businesses failed to make sufficient progress in gender equality over the past year.

The EU’s justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, said that – at the current rate – it would take more than 40 years for women to hold 40 per cent of board positions in Europe’s publicly-listed companies.

“I am not fond of quotas,” Reding said. “But I very much like what quotas do.”

Helena Morrissey, the chief executive of Newton Investment Management and founder of the 30% Club, which aims to increase the number of women on UK board without quotas, said: “Progress is already being made through self-regulation here in the UK and we expect this to accelerate. Investors don’t want quotas, boards don’t want quotas and women don’t want quotas.”