The French approach to promoting gender diversity in corporate governance

Abstract

An increasing number of countries are adopting policies on gender diversity in corporate governance. Some regulators believe that non-binding recommendations, or ‘soft law’, are sufficient and that stakeholder social pressure will promote diversity. Others argue that ‘hard law’ is needed, including mandatory quotas with sanctions for non-compliance. Both sides believe that increasing gender diversity on boards of directors is necessary to promote diversity in executive committees and other top management positions. Empirical evidence from France sheds light on this debate. Initially, the country supported the ‘soft law’ approach. However, following the Norwegian example, France passed the Copé-Zimmermann law in 2011, which imposed a mandatory quota of 40% gender diversity on boards of directors by 2017. In 2021, the French parliament passed the Rixain law, recognising the limited progress of the previous law and setting a mandatory quota of 40% on boards by 2029. This law was the first of its kind in Western countries.