Ms Jean O'Sullivan:

However, while there were no quotas for women on boards, there were clear targets. It was strategically focused with a clear intent about what would be the outcome. Therefore, when all the multinationals were reporting, they all looked at their gender breakdown. One sees this happening now when, for example, Google, came out in the United States last week and gave its reports on its gender breakdown within the company, which was not very positive. All of the other checked companies then came out behind it, but this now has suddenly shone a light on why that is the case. Consequently, I think information is very powerful in those particular instances.