Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Today is international women's day. In deference to this auspicious day, I call on the Government to legislate for a corporate board quota similar to that of Norway. This would compliment the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill, which proposes an increase in women's representation on the ballot paper for the Dáil.

Irish female representation on corporate boards is dismal. In March 2011 women made up only 6% of directors in our biggest company boardrooms. Almost all of our 35 largest Stock Exchange-listed firms have no women board members at all. These are the heavy hitters, with market capitalisation of €5 billion. In terms of female decision making in the Civil Service, the statistics are also depressing. There is nearly twice the number of females as males working in the Civil Service yet, at the highest ranks, they are far outnumbered by men. At the highest level of Secretary General, women account for only 17.6%, while at the clerical officer level, women occupy 77.3% of posts.

The most widely known example of quotas for corporate boards is in Norway, where a 40% gender quota exists. These boards are in public, limited, state-owned and inter-municipality companies. The quota policy was introduced in Norway in December 2003 but gave companies a grace period until 2008 to reach the target. Female representation increased gradually before it dramatically jumped from 15.9% in 2004 to 37% in 2007 and finally reached the 40% target in 2008. Legislated board quotas have since been introduced in Spain in 2007 and in France and the Netherlands in 2010. Quotas for public limited companies are also being discussed in Belgium, Canada and Italy, where laws are pending at different stages of the ratification process.

Ireland's big investors seem to be averse to the implementation of a gender quota system. Companies in Norway were also quite against the idea in the first instance. It was argued that companies would be forced to appoint less qualified people as board members just because of their gender. However, studies have since revealed that 36% of female board members in Norway have a university education lasting six years or more, compared to just 22% of their male counterparts. I ask that a corporate quota to increase women's representation be put in place.

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