Way to go Norway !!!

[marmar]

:toast:



via MichaelMoore.com:



July 12th, 2010 12:40 PM

Norway's Experience Shows Compulsory Quotas Work
Many European countries are now looking to emulate Norway's quota for female board members, introduced first in 2004. A new report takes a look at the effects of that legislation six years on and concludes that many of the original arguments against the measure have not been borne out.

By Siobhán Dowling / Der Spiegel


When Norway introduced tough new laws back at the beginning of 2004 aimed at increasing the number of women on company boards, the naysayers said it would lead to disaster. Companies would be forced to appoint less-qualified people as board members just because of their gender, and there would be widespread resentment among male colleagues and business owners.

Six years after the introduction of the 40 percent quota, the great debate the law unleashed has died down completely. The quota has been successful and has gained broad acceptance. What is more, the caliber of women on company boards is just as high if not higher than their male counterparts. But this has only been achieved because, after a period of voluntary compliance that yielded few results, the government introduced tough sanctions for companies that failed to implement the quota.

That is the conclusion of a study published earlier this week in Berlin by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a research foundation with links to Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD). Authors Aagoth Storvik and Mari Teigen, both senior researchers at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo, argue that without both the compulsory quotas and the accompanying sanctions for non-compliance, it would be next to impossible to increase the number of female board members.

The 'Norwegian Paradox'

Storvik told SPIEGEL ONLINE that there was something of a "Norwegian paradox" at play in her country, which is often regarded as one of the best places in the world to be a woman. She explains that while there had long been many women in politics and a moderate number of female managers in the public sector, when it came to the private sector, "we were rather low down the list in Europe." The fact that board members are usually drawn from top managers lead to a low percentage of women on the company boards, with only 6 percent in 2002. "So we didn't have the best point of departure when the reform was introduced." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/norways-experience-shows-compulsory-quotas-work

[T Wolf]

1. Recently (too briefly) visited this beautiful nation. Not only are its social policies

decades (or more) ahead of ours (recognition of marriage equality, etc.), they have no pollution and do the best job on the planet of taking care of the environment.

Their hydro-electric power plants are built inside of mountains in order to protect and preserve what nature has provided them.

They get a lot for their taxes - much more than we do.

[SheilaT]

2. I remember early complaints

against affirmative action. Pretty soon, the nay-sayers said, we'd having nothing but incompetent minorities and women running things.

Oddly enough, we still have incompetent white men running most things. BP, for example.