Greek companies will soon be mandated to meet a 25% female quota on their boards following a landmark decision for gender diversity.

The quota requirement has been included as an amendment to the bill transposing the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II) into Greek law, and is the result of a consultation led by a group of academics specialising in corporate governance.

The academic group includes Professor Konstantinos Sergakis of the University of Glasgow, who posted details of the development on LinkedIn. He said he was “delighted and honoured our consultation response has led to amendments to the final version of the Greek Bill”.

He added: “[We are] happy to engage further with market actors in Greece to inculcate a meaningful compliance agenda with the new legislative framework.”

With its second phase to come into force on 3 September 2020, the Shareholder Rights Directive has been designed to improve corporate governance as well as encouraging shareholder engagement and better standards of transparency.

Overall, the directive is designed to encourage companies away from short-termism, focusing on areas such as director remuneration. However, the Greek amendment marks the first time it has been used to tackle the EU’s poor record on gender diversity at a board level.

via 25% gender quota introduced for Greek companies | Minerva-Manifest