Despite French legislation requiring companies to respect quotas for women in their management bodies, they still remain a minority. Faced with this situation, a collective wants to change practices in the world of work.
“We are far from reaching acceptable levels”Noting that women do not occupy enough positions of power, a dozen business leaders have committed to promoting them more in a column published this Thursday, September 5 in The Echoes. “The need to have mixed teams of women and men at the head and at all levels of our organizations is no longer in doubt”they support.
“We are personally committed to promoting the inclusion of women in our management teams and executive committees on a daily basis.”promise these leaders, including the CEO of SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou, the general director of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa Hélène Bernicot, the CEO of Forvis Mazars Hervé Hélias and the CEO France of Sodexo Bruno Vaquette.
The members of this collective assure that they will “put in place the concrete material conditions for (professional) success” women, “in order to lighten the mental load which is still predominantly female today”. But also to “take into account the issue of balance between personal and professional lives”and to “questioning the absolute necessity of permanent geographical mobility of managers”.
Increasingly present but still a minority
In 2021, France had 43.2% women on boards of directors (BoDs), according to Deloitte. Since 2011, the Copé-Zimmermann law has imposed a minimum quota of 40% women on BoDs.
But women are very rarely at the head of companies present in the flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange, the CAC 40. Among the few female bosses of these companies, we find Catherine MacGregor at the helm of Engie, Christel Heydemann at the head of Orange and Estelle Brachlianoff who heads Veolia.
France, which is one of the most advanced countries in this area, also adopted the Rixain law in 2021, which sets a target of at least 30% of women in the management bodies of companies from 2026, before 40% in 2029.
A predominantly male environment that the signatories of this article explain by the “unconscious biases that lead executives to promote people who are like them” as well as by “the often negative image of power perceived by women”The imbalance between personal and professional life that these positions induce ultimately discourages women from getting involved at this level.
