Brussels, 22/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding wants more women on company boards and in high-level decision-making posts. To discuss the situation as it stands and help bring improvements to it, Reding will hold a summit of the heads of Europe's largest multinational companies. Her aim is to have 30% of company board members to be women, and she believes that this target is achievable by 2015, with the next target being 40% by 2020.
How is she to achieve this objective? Reding, who, by her own admission, is not a great supporter of quotas, would prefer voluntary measures and self-regulation. Multinationals, such as Deutsche Telekom, provide a good example. Reding says she is ready, however, “if necessary and as a last resort”, to consider targeted EU initiatives to get more women into top jobs in the economic decision-making process. For the commissioner, it goes without saying that, with women still being paid 18% less than men across the EU, women's financial situation has to be remedied. She will put in place an annual European Equal Pay Day to raise awareness of this issue. To tackle violence against women, Reding has announced a “comprehensive” package of measures on victims of crime and will take steps to ensure that the rights of victims are effectively protected for 2011. Commissioner Reding was speaking at a meeting of the European Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius on Monday 22 November. (G.B./transl.rt)