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 to around 20,000 large and medium-sized companies, by 2028, its quotas in this area on boards of directors.

A pioneer on the subject, the Scandinavian country has imposed since 2004 on its public groups and since 2008 on the largest listed companies 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. With the support of the two main employers’ organizations 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 turnover and of their workforce.

About 8,200 companies concerned from next year

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. The turnover or headcount bar will then be lowered year by 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.