EU rules to improve Gender Balance on boards

The EU’s Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive, intended to create a more balanced gender representation on the boards of listed companies across all EU Member States, is set to come into force on 30 June, 2026.The Directive sets a target for EU large listed companies of 40% of the underrepresented sex among their non-executive directors and 33% among all directors.

The share of women in corporate boards is 34% on average in the EU. Since 2010, the representation of women in corporate boards has improved in most EU Member States, but the extent of progress varies considerably and in some Member States it is stagnating. For example, in 2024, women accounted for 39.6% of the board members of the largest listed companies in countries with binding gender quotas, compared to 33.8% in countries with soft measures, and just 17% in countries that have taken no action at all.

The Directive requires Member States to publish a list of companies that reached the gender balance targets as well as designate one or more bodies for the promotion, analysis, monitoring and support of gender balance on boards. The Commission can launch infringement proceedings against Member States that fail to notify transposition, or to correctly transpose, the Directive.

The Commission proposed the Directive on gender balance in company boards in November 2012. After ten years of discussions, the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement in June 2022. The deadline to transpose the provisions of the Directive fell two years later, on 28 December, 2024.

More information is available here.