Large and mid-size private firms in Norway must have boards comprising at least 40% women, Norway’s government proposed in a bill on Monday, in a further push to break the glass ceiling preventing women from reaching top positions.
The Nordic country was the first in the world to introduce a 40% gender quota on the boards of listed companies, in 2005, kick-starting an international push to force companies to have more women on boards.
In December, Norway’s government proposed an extension of its quota law to apply to large private companies.
On Monday, it said the proposal would also affect mid-size private firms – those with minimum 30 employees and yearly revenues above 50 million crowns ($4.7 million) when fully implemented in 2028.
“We are the first country in the world to do this,” Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre told a news conference.
He said that while the push is based on the government’s ambitions to create a fair policy on equality, the primary driver was economical.
“It is about, first and foremost, creating more value, innovation, creativity and using all the resources in our society,” Vestre said.