Publications

Pour favoriser la féminisation des conseils d'administration, certains pays, comme la Norvège ou la France, ont voté une loi contraignante imposant un quota ; d'autres pays comme le Canada ont adopté une loi souple de type comply or explain. L'article propose une comparaison de l'efficacité des lois contraignantes et des lois souples dans le cas de la promotion de la diversité dans les conseils d'administration. L'étude France – Canada de 445 sociétés cotées sur la période 2011-2014 confirme la féminisation plus grande et plus rapide des conseils d'administration en France, sans s'écarter davantage qu'au Canada des normes de recrutement en vigueur.
 
Consultable : Allemand I., Bédard J. et Brullebaut B. (2016), « Efficacité des lois contraignantes et des lois souples pour promouvoir la diversité de genre dans les conseils d'administration : une comparaison France Canada », Finance Contrôle Stratégie [En ligne], 19-4  URL : http://fcs.revues.org/1869 ; DOI : 10.4000/fcs.1869.

After Norway in 2003 and Spain in 2007, France adopted gender quotas in boards. With the Copé Zimmermann law, voted and implemented in January 2011, listed companies and non-listed companies with revenues or total of assets over 50 million Euros or employing at least 500 persons for three consecutive years have to reach a minimum of 40 per cent of each sex on boards within a 6 years period, with an intermediary level of 20 per cent in 2014. This example of hard law seems to have worked in the French context: after the General Assemblies of 2016, the 140 biggest listed companies (capitalization higher than 1 billion of euros) have 36.7 per cent of women on their board. Despite some criticisms about the legitimacy of quotas, and probably due to the existence of a compulsory regulation, no strong and structured hindering forces appeared as regards the increase of female representation on boards. In this chapter, we provide a general background of French companies' corporate governance structure, and a discussion of the national policy. Along with figures on women representation, we also provide critical reflections on the case and a short reflection from Viviane Neiter, a French practitioner, director in several French listed companies.
 
Consultable : Zenou E., Allemand I. et Brullebaut B. (2017), « Gender Diversity in the boardroom: example of a success from a hard law », Gender Diversity: Volume 1 The Use of Different Quota Regulations ; Edited by Cathrine SEIERSTAD, Patricia GABALDON et Heike MENSI-KLARBACH, Palgrace Macmillan Editions.