Statistical brief: gender balance in business and finance 2021

Ursula von der Leyen made a ‘union of equality’, based on the principle of equality for all and equality in all its senses, a cornerstone of her mandate. Binding measures since 2019 have made significant strides in supporting the fundamental principle of equal pay for equal work, gender-balanced company boards, work–life balance, binding standards for equality bodies and combating violence...

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental and development challenges facing the world today, and it has critical impacts on human rights and inequalities, including gender equality. To overcome these challenges, in 2019 the EU launched the European Green Deal (EGD) strategy, which sets out targets of no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and economic growth decoupled...

A decade after it was first proposed, the EU’s directive on improving gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures was adopted by EU co-legislators in November 2022, coming into force in December 2022. The directive requires at least 40 % of the non-executive members of the boards of listed companies, or at least 33 % of all...