Brussels, 17/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - During the Digital Life Design Women conference in Munich on 15 July, Viviane Reding gave further precisions on her proposal for quotas of women to break the glass ceiling preventing women from getting to the top jobs.
Last autumn, Reding, the European commissioner for fundamental rights, presented a draft directive setting a 40% quota of women for non-executive positions on boards of directors in major European companies quoted on the stock exchange. Speaking in Munich, however, she emphasised that this did not mean “rigid quotas” but rather “a transparent selection procedure during which appropriately qualified and competent women are given their chance”. She explained that, with the proposal on the table currently being negotiated, no woman would obtain a post just because she is a woman and no woman would be refused a job simply because she is a woman.
She also said that she was pleased that a majority of member states are currently supporting her goal (although the Council remains divided on the subject) and the European Parliament even requested stricter rules in its vote at the Parliamentary committee on women. (MD/transl.fl)