International women’s day approaches on the 8th of March and the anthem is #PressforProgress. We have made progress as a society for women – but is it enough? I for one think we need to reframe the conversation. I don’t mean to take away from the #metoo or #timesup or #vote100 movements. I think we should be doing less pressing and more pushing for progress for parity and it all starts with how we talk about women and our roles in the workforce.
Ten years ago, there was a call in Europe to promote more women – “golden skirts” they called them – to the board level. If firms didn’t comply, they faced sanctions by the “30% Club”, a group of companies that campaigns on the basis that boards should be composed of that proportion of women, globally.
So, countries that included Norway, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Britain implemented quotas to increase women’s participation at the board level. Firms that didn’t comply were fined, banned, dissolved or faced other sanctions.
Read More