EU Sets Women Boardroom Quota at 40 Percent

After ten years the EU has reached a landmark decision to achieve corporate gender equality. The move will put pressure on Swiss companies both in the EU and at home.

The EU is introducing a legally binding 40 percent quota for women in non-executive positions and a 33 percent quota for women in executive roles of companies operating in the European Union from mid-2026, it said in a press statement late Tuesday.

Currently, only a third of boardroom members in the EU are women and the number of female senior managers is lower, it said. The new directive aims to help companies listed on EU stock exchanges accelerate their progress in reaching gender equality.

While Swiss companies listed in the EU will have to comply with the new European law, companies listed in Switzerland are being put «indirectly» under pressure to follow suit by this decision, Fabienne Meier partner at executive search firm Knight Gianella & Partner, said.

Last year Swiss law determined a 30 percent quota for women on the board of directors of Swiss listed companies within five years and a 20 percent quota for women in executive management positions within ten years.

For Meier, the boardroom targets are realistic, but the pool of female talent for the executive level is too small, as it was not nurtured enough in the past. Some sectors will struggle to close the gender gap as they look for top female executives with (rare) technical profiles, she said.

The Commission first proposed gender balance on company boards in November 2012, but it has taken ten years for all decision-makers to reach an agreement on the matter with some member states previously opposing binding measures at the EU level.

Although 60 percent of current university graduates are female, women are underrepresented in high-level positions and progress is very slow. Countries with national quotas have the highest share of women sitting as board members of listed companies, according to the statement.