Carrie Lukas of the Independent Women’s Forum takes a look at Germany’s new draft law that would force companies to appoint women to three of 10 supervisory board seats.
I find it highly offensive that in 2014, this patronizing action is even considered. Are women so weak, so incapable, so in need of special treatment? Why aren’t women shouting from the mountaintops that this is offensive? Are we really content to be treated as “little ladies” who need help? Are we not willing to earn our position and our respect?
Many European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, have adopted variations of a corporate board quota, albeit too recently to rigorously assess. A better test case is Norway, whose board quota law, passed in 2003, has required qualifying publicly listed companies to meet a 40 percent threshold for women since 2008. Studies of the Norwegian mandate offer little cause for optimism, however.
One study by two University of Michigan economists, published in 2012 in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, concluded that, while Norway’s quota policy raised female representation on the corporate boards to which it pertained, it ultimately “imposed significant and costly constraints on Norwegian firms.” The women who were brought on to corporate boards were younger and less experienced than their male colleagues; the economists found that those firms forced to increase women’s representation experienced a statistically significant loss in market value compared with other companies that year.
The German automakers Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler and Opel have threatened to move production out of the country rather than comply with the quota. Norway’s experience suggests they might not be bluffing: According to the 2012 study, numerous Norwegian corporations changed their legal structure or incorporated outside the country to avoid compliance. In 2009, the number of public limited firms in Norway was less than “70 percent of the number in 2001,” the economists found, while the number of private limited firms, which were exempt from the quota, had increased by more than 30 percent.
Ladies, it’s well past time to reject this offensive quota nonsense. Work hard. Earn your spot. Earn respect. Deliver results. In other words, perform like a professional and you will be rewarded.
