Government urged to stand firm against EU quotas for women on boards
12 September 2014
The government has been urged to stand firm against the EU proposal to impose quotas for women on boards.
Fri, 12 Sep 2014The government has been urged to stand firm against the EU proposal to impose quotas for women on boards.
This is the message from the House of Lords EU Sub Committee on the Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment in a letter to the government.
As a follow-up to its 2012 report ‘Women on boards’, the committee conducted an inquiry into the EU proposal, which aims to introduce an objective of at least 40% representation of women on boards by 2020.
The committee concluded the EU approach was misguided and that more effort should be put into ensuring the supply of women from lower down the organisation through to senior management roles.
It wants the UK to stick to this “self regulatory” approach instead of “resorting” to quotas.
In a statement, Baroness O’Cathain, chair of the committee, said “quotas fail to address the underlying cause of gender inequality”. She added: “Member states need to foster a sustainable change at the heart of business instead of resorting to quotas. In particular, we believe that a stronger flow of women into, and up, the company ranks, would get us where we want to be.”
Raj Tulsiani, CEO of executive search firm Green Park, is also of the opinion that quotas aren’t the answer when it comes to increasing diversity. He told Recruiter that the focus should be on succession planning and talent development. “The talent is out there but it is not being utilised, attracted, retained and developed in the right way.”
The “recycling of talent” by executive search firms is also part of the problem. He said: “The difficulty is partially with the supply chain and how these people are selected externally. There is a recycling of talent from tier one executive search firms. It’s easier [for consultants] to place people they have got longstanding relationships with and they will always prioritise them.”
This is the message from the House of Lords EU Sub Committee on the Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment in a letter to the government.
As a follow-up to its 2012 report ‘Women on boards’, the committee conducted an inquiry into the EU proposal, which aims to introduce an objective of at least 40% representation of women on boards by 2020.
The committee concluded the EU approach was misguided and that more effort should be put into ensuring the supply of women from lower down the organisation through to senior management roles.
It wants the UK to stick to this “self regulatory” approach instead of “resorting” to quotas.
In a statement, Baroness O’Cathain, chair of the committee, said “quotas fail to address the underlying cause of gender inequality”. She added: “Member states need to foster a sustainable change at the heart of business instead of resorting to quotas. In particular, we believe that a stronger flow of women into, and up, the company ranks, would get us where we want to be.”
Raj Tulsiani, CEO of executive search firm Green Park, is also of the opinion that quotas aren’t the answer when it comes to increasing diversity. He told Recruiter that the focus should be on succession planning and talent development. “The talent is out there but it is not being utilised, attracted, retained and developed in the right way.”
The “recycling of talent” by executive search firms is also part of the problem. He said: “The difficulty is partially with the supply chain and how these people are selected externally. There is a recycling of talent from tier one executive search firms. It’s easier [for consultants] to place people they have got longstanding relationships with and they will always prioritise them.”
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