The presence of women on the boards of directors of Spain’s leading companies has increased significantly in recent years, according to a study presented by IESE professor Núria Chinchilla and the consultancy Inforpress.
Women currently represent 12.5% of the members of the boards of directors of IBEX-35 companies, compared with 5.14% in 2008. Despite this increase, the level is far from satisfactory and does not reflect the recommendations set out in the Unified Code of Good Governance. This was highlighted at the “First Forum of Women in Power,” held today in Barcelona and inaugurated by journalist and CEO of the Portuguese media group Media Capital, Rosa Cullell, former director general of the CCMA.
For Núria Chinchilla, an IESE professor, “the best companies are those that promote diversity on their boards. Progress is being made naturally. There is no need to artificially force the pace.”
For her part, Núria Vilanova, president of Inforpress, believes that “boards of directors are especially significant because of their visibility. The inclusion of women has a positive influence and is worth highlighting, particularly the presence of female executive directors, which, although still limited, also reflects improvement in management bodies.”
A positive, although extremely slow, evolution can be observed. At present, 63 women sit on the governing bodies of the companies that make up the IBEX-35. This figure is double that of 2008, just four years ago, when their number barely reached 26; it increased by nine in 2011. In just a few months, the number of women has risen notably, translating into greater diversity in the decision-making bodies of IBEX-35 companies.
Caixabank and FCC are the two companies with the greatest gender parity on their boards of directors, with five female directors each. They are followed by Acciona, with four women, and Abengoa, Indra, and REE, with three female directors each. At the other extreme, Endesa, Gas Natural, and Técnicas Reunidas are still resisting the appointment of women to their boards and are the only IBEX-35 companies without female representation on their highest governing body.
Still few female executives
Of the 63 women currently serving on the decision-making bodies of major companies, only two hold positions as executive directors: Ana Patricia Botín-Sanz of Banco Santander and María Dolores Dancausa Treviño of Bankinter. This is a tiny proportion, given that there are 79 male executive directors. Female representation is more substantial in other categories of directorship: 41 independent female directors, four times fewer than male independent directors, and 19 proprietary female directors, more than eight times fewer than the men who perform the same role. It is worth noting that no external female directors are recorded. Ana María Llopis, the non-executive chair of DIA, combines that position with a directorship in the “other” category.
The most balanced boards are those of Red Eléctrica Española (8 men and 3 women), Acciona (10 men and 4 women), and Indra (11 men and 3 women). Despite having more female directors, the proportion of women on the board as a whole is lower at Caixabank and FCC.
In any case, a positive evolution can be observed when comparing figures from recent years. The 26 female directors recorded in 2008 rose to 43 in 2009 and 52 in 2010. The trend stalled last year, increasing by only two female directors by the end of the 2011 shareholders’ meetings, although by year-end the number had risen to 58.
The increase to 63 women at the beginning of 2012, in just a few months, is largely explained by changes in the composition of the IBEX-35: on the one hand, Bankia entered the index with two female directors, replacing Iberdrola Renovables; on the other, the index temporarily consists of 36 companies, following the addition of DIA (with two female directors), without any company having yet been removed. Consequently, there are nine more women than were recorded in the VII Report of the Good Governance Forum 2011 (54), and five more than after the general shareholders’ meetings (58).
For the time being, the trend continues upward, as BBVA’s board of directors has agreed to propose to the next general shareholders’ meeting, to be held this March, the appointment of Belén Garijo as a new independent director. This will increase the bank’s board to 14 members, including two female directors.
Although the number of female directors rises year after year, its growth rate is below what would be desirable to promote gender diversity on boards: 441 men compared with 63 women. These figures represent 12.5% female representation, far below the recommendations of the Code of Good Governance and the 2007 Equality Law, whose objective is to achieve at least 40% parity.
These figures complete the study prepared by the Good Governance and Shareholding Forum, founded by Inforpress and IESE’s IRCO in 2009.
