An army of 400 female managers: there are many who will have to be appointed to the top positions of listed companies in Europe to comply with the Union's parameters on gender diversity. To calculate the number was the “European diversity Quotas” report by Crédit Suisse Securities research who wanted to take stock of the situation by verifying, company by company, the behavior of the major European giants from Germany to Spain, from France to Italy, Belgium and so on.
If this is the first piece of news, the second follows closely: where there is a greater presence of women on boards, the performance of equities was better of the companies concerned. Companies with at least one woman on the board have in fact achieved an average Roe (return on equity) of 14,1% from 2005 to all of 2014, well above the 11,2% achieved by all-male boards in the same period. If we then look at the share value, grew 40% more compared to companies led only by men in groups with more than 10 billion market capitalization.
The Crédit Suisse research started from a very simple premise: looking at the companies that make up the stock indexes of the 11 main European markets, from the FtseMib in Milan to the Ibex in Madrid, from the Ftse 100 in London to the Cac 40 in Paris or the Dax 30 in Frankfurt, he discovered that only 80 of the companies making up these baskets are in line with European parameters. Out of 4.300 board members, there were 1085 women. Only 95 directors were added in 2014, a year which, the investment bank observes, marked a slowdown compared to the 147 positions added in 2013. And this, despite the undoubtedly better management results recorded in those companies where female participation in the first line it is greater.
Most European countries, excluding Holland and Switzerland, have legislation on gender targets imposing quotas between 25 (UK) and 40% (France and Sweden) female presence on boards. Spain has the greatest delay with a presence of 17% of women managers against the 40% of the planned target.
How does Italy stand? in this ranking of gender diversity? Surprise, first place. It is the country that registered the biggest leap forward last year. From 2010 to 2014, the number of female managers in Italy quadrupled and today gender diversity has reached 23,3% of top positions in companies listed on the Ftse Mib. A leap in quality, comments the research, attributable not only to the introduction of gender quotas in listed Spas but more generally to the impulse that Matteo Renzi's government wanted to give the presence of women in the executive and in public companies. A leap that Crédit Suisse defines as "striking". Nonetheless, Italy still has a significant way to go if it wants to reach the target of 33% by 2015 imposed by the law on women's quotas: 64 new women will have to be appointed to the boards by the end of the year.
The number of female managers in bords rose from 88 in 2013 to 119 last year, driven by Enel and Eni both went from zero to 3, while Telecom Italia did even better with an increase from 1 to 5. Just a Telecom is the first listed Spa with the best gender representation, the only one in Italy that can boast a presence of 40% of women in the top management. In Europe, the companies capable of exhibiting this performance can be counted on the fingertips (13 in Norway, 8 in France and 6 in Sweden) while the French Publicis and the Swedish H&M are the only ones in Europe to have a female presence on the board superior to that of men.
Finally the worst or groups with a female presence of less than 15%. In Italy Azimut Holding, Exor, Banca Popolare di Milano, Prysmian and Yoox. In the UK there are 16 and among these there are Sky, Glencore, Schroders. In Spain 13 Spa including Endesa, Repsol and Mediaset Espana. In France, only Airbus.
