Norway wants to extend the parity obligation to some 20,000 companies by 2028

How to strengthen gender equality? The Norwegian government detailed on Monday June 19 its plan to increase parity in the business world by extending its quotas for men and women on boards of directors by 2028 to around 20,000 large and medium-sized companies.

A pioneer in this area, the Scandinavian country has required its public groups since 2004 and the largest listed companies since 2008 to have at least 40% women (or men in the rare cases where women are over-represented ) on their board of directors, otherwise they will have to go out of business.

Some 8,200 companies concerned

With the support of the main employers’ organizations (NHO) and trade unions (LO), the centre-left government proposes to gradually introduce, over the years, similar requirements in other large and medium-sized companies, depending on their employment figures. business and their workforce.

With the criteria chosen for 2024 (an annual turnover of at least 100 million crowns, or around 8.7 million euros), some 8,200 companies will be affected by the measure next year. Then, with the turnover or workforce bar lowered year on year, just over 20,000 Norwegian companies will have to meet the quota in 2028.

To date, women occupy only about 20% of the administrator positions, a lesser progression compared to the 15% recorded 20 years ago.