Women underrepresented in company decision-making processes

In 2004, the Centre for Population, Poverty and Socioeconomic Policy Studies carried out a survey to assess the development of women’s participation in the decision-making processes of companies since 2000. The survey findings indicate that the participation of women in this regard is significantly lower than their representation in the overall workforce. The situation has barely improved since 2000.

At the request of the Ministry of Equal Opportunities, the Centre for Population, Poverty and Socioeconomic Policy Studies (Centre d’Études de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Économiques/International Networks for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives, Development, CEPS/Instead) conducted a survey on women’s participation in companies’ decision-making processes. The survey was a follow-up of an earlier study carried out in 2000, and aimed at assessing any developments between 2000 and 2004.

As part of the survey, a questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of private-sector companies of all sizes. The survey covered companies in all sectors of the economy, except those in agriculture. In all, 2,315 companies took part in the survey, which represents 15% of all companies in Luxembourg.

Women underrepresented on company board

The level of participation of women as members of boards of directors is considerably lower than their representation in the overall workforce. Women represent 35% of the workforce in companies which have a board of directors, while they account for just 16% of the seats on the board. It should be noted that their participation rate is higher in small companies, employing fewer than 15 workers. In such companies, they hold 18% of the seats on the board of directors. However, in companies employing more than 100 employees, only 10% of those on the board of directors are female. In these large companies, the proportion of women in the workforce is 3.8 times higher than their level of representation on the board of directors.

According to the survey findings, women are underrepresented on the board of directors across all economic sectors, except in the construction sector where the proportion of women on the company board of directors is higher than their representation in the workforce. In sectors such as metalworking, transport, textiles, chemicals, automotive and energy supply – where female workers are few in number and tend to perform administrative tasks – they gain access to seats on the board of directors more frequently and are represented at the same level as in the workforce (Table 1).