Government quotas have helped push Norwegian companies to include far more women on their boards of directors than their competitors elsewhere in Europe, a survey of FTSE Eurofirst 300 companies has found. Should other countries follow suit?

While the Spanish parliament last year passed a law requiring 40 per cent female representation by 2015, such proposals are highly contentious elsewhere, including in the UK where the CBI, the employers' group, is against specific targets.

“We are opposed to positive discrimination. Most people don't want to get a job simply because they are black or a woman,” said Katja Hall, head of employee relations at the CBI.

“But we need to do more to encourage women to move into the senior executive ranks.”

But there might be a financial case for companies to make the change.

A study of the US Fortune 500 last year by Catalyst, the non-profit group, suggests that having three or more women on the board correlates strongly with above- average return on shareholder equity, sales and invested capital.

Conversely, companies with no women on their board tended to have below- average returns.

While there is no proof that the female directors cause the improved performance, their presence could be a signal that a particular company is willing to rethink usual behaviour and talk to a wider range of people, advocates said.

They might also be in a better position to capitalise on the increased purchasing power of women and their growing presence in the skilled workforce.

“When you look at the customers and the employees and stakeholders of tomorrow, we've got some big shifts coming,” said Ilene Lang, Catalyst president.

“It takes commitment because if you are not under the gun, you tend to stick with the status quo.”

The US study comes from a country where women began rising to corporate leadership earlier and with more success than in Europe. Last year, women made up 15 per cent of Fortune 500 boards and 12 of the chief executives, Catalyst found.

By contrast, a study to be released today by the European Professional Women's Network and Egon Zehnder, the recruiting firm, found that women accounted for 9.7 per cent of FTSE Eurofirst 300 board members and seven of the chief executives. Four of the seven European female chiefs are from the US.

US women are also more likely to chair powerful board committees, perhaps reflecting the fact that women have made up one in 10 US directors since 1995. Only 5 per cent of European nominating committee chairs were female, while 15 per cent of US nominating committees are headed by women.

Indeed, the CBI's Ms Hall said recent study of UK directors found that women made up 28 per cent of directors aged 18 to 29, although they were primarily at small companies. “That's very encouraging for the future,” she said.

“The US started talking about it much earlier. The timeline has a significant amount to do with it. The supply is different,” said Annalisa Gigante, a board member of the the women's network who worked on the study. The study carried out by the women's network also highlighted significant regional differences, which may stem in part from the way different business communities tend to fill their boards.

While Dutch, English and Irish boards were between 10 and 12 per cent female, Italian and Portuguese directors were found to be 2 and less than 1 per cent female, respectively.

Companies in the Netherlands and England are far more likely to hire outside help from search firms, while those in southern Europe tend to rely on personal networking, search firm officials said.

Using a formal search process might make it easier for companies to reach beyond traditional candidates, who tend to be overwhelmingly male, and appreciate the different kinds of expertise a woman might bring.

针对富时Eurofirst 300指数(FTSE Eurofirst 300)成分股公司的一项调查发现，在政府配额的推动下，挪威公司女性董事的比例要高于欧洲其它国家的企业。那么其它国家应该效仿吗？

尽管西班牙议会去年通过了一项法律，要求企业董事会里的女性比例在2015年之前达到40%，但这样的提案在其它地方却是备受争议的，其中包括英国——在那里，英国雇主组织英国工商业联合会(CBI)反对设定具体的目标。

英国工商业联合会负责雇员关系的主管卡特加•霍尔(Katja Hall)表示：“我们反对‘正面歧视'(positive discrimination)。大多数人并不想仅仅凭借自己是黑人或者女性而得到一份工作。”

“但我们需要更多努力，鼓励女性进入高管级别。”

不过，可能有一种财务情况会让公司做出改变。

非盈利性组织Catalyst去年对财富500强(Fortune 500)企业所做的研究显示，董事会中拥有三名或者更多的女性，其股东权益回报率、利润率以及投资资本回报率极有可能高于平均水平。

相反，董事会中没有女性的公司更可能获得低于平均值的回报率。

支持者表示，尽管没有证据证明女性董事带来了业绩的改善，但她们的存在表明了一个信号：一家公司愿意重新审思惯性行为，并且愿意与更大范围的人群进行交谈。

这些企业还会获得一种优势地位，能够对女性不断增强的购买力及高技能劳动力中不断增长的女性比例善加利用。

Catalyst总裁艾琳•兰(Ilene Lang)表示：“当你观察未来的客户、雇员以及股东时，你会发现一些重大转变即将出现。”

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