[B]EU commissioners are due to debate proposals that would force quotas for women on corporate boards.
[/B]EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is in favour of the proposals to[B] make it mandatory for companies to reserve 40% of seats for women[/B].[B]
But several countries, including the UK, are opposed to it.
[/B]The debate comes after the European Parliament criticised the lack of female candidates for the European Central Bank (ECB).
A parliamentary committee - in a resolution passed by 21 votes to 12, with 13 absentions - called on the European Council to withdraw the candidacy of Luxembourg's Yves Mersch for the ECB executive board, saying his appointment would mean that the board would be all male up until 2018.
The debate on Ms Reding's quotas plan is due in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
If there is enough agreement, the proposals will be put to the European Parliament, which could vote to make gender quotas mandatory across the 27 countries in the European Union.
"Of course, there will be some opposition. [B]But Europe has a lot to gain from more diverse corporate boards,[/B]" Ms Reding [URL="https://twitter.com/VivianeRedingEU/status/260325109175287808"]said on Twitter[/URL].
"The European Parliament has called for action to get more women into boardrooms. The time to act is now."
At the moment, less than 15% of board positions in EU member states are currently held by women, according to the Commission.
Ms Reding's proposals on compulsory numbers of women come after France, Spain, Italy, Iceland and Belgium introduced quota laws. Norway, which is not an EU member, has had a 40% quota since 2003.
Her opponents argue that voluntary targets and increased efforts to change attitudes would be more effective in the long run.
[B]UK Business Secretary Vince Cable is leading a campaign against the quota proposals, backed by ministers from eight other countries.
[/B]In the UK, the percentage of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies has risen over the past year to a record 16%, but the UK government wants the biggest listed companies to have a minimum 25% of female directors by 2015.
[URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20039540[/URL]
I'm pretty sure this would breach the UKs discrimination act, people should be hired based on their skills not their gender
[QUOTE=matt.ant;38147774]
I'm pretty sure this would breach the UKs discrimination act, people should be hired based on their skills not their gender[/QUOTE]
Pick a female off the streets, give her a suit and a matching suitcase and BAM! instant business
no matter the education
These quotas are fucking retarded. You should be hiring people based on there competence, not on their gender.
So in order to battle inequality, they're going to create situations where I won't get a job and the equally skilled woman (or even worse, the lesser skilled woman) does simply because I have a dick and she doesn't.
You heard it here first folks, you fight discrimination by discriminating the other party.
Who seriously thought this was a good thing?
Positive discrimination is never a good thing, you can't make equality by focusing on 1 side of the argument, there's probably a reason that women aren't on the board.
What a terrible idea, one of the few times I'm glad our government is opposing an EU idea. "Positive" discrimination is one of the worst ways of dealing with gender inequality I've ever seen.
The glass ceiling still exists. It needs the EU and governments to remove it using legislative process.
This isn't it. Whats the point in fining companies for a workforce that doesn't exist to fill that quota?
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