Switzerland needs more women in boards

Women are rare at top levels in Switzerland, with board level representation “closer to that seen in much less-developed nations”, according to a report by Credit Suisse.

The research “The CS Gender 3000” titled “The Reward for Change” showed that companies that have at least three women on the board have three times higher market capitalization compared to those who only have one female representative.

“With regards to business performance, we find clear evidence that a higher participation of women in decision-making roles continue to generate higher returns on equity, while running more conservative balance sheets,” said Urs Rohner Chairman of Credit Suisse and board member Iris Bohnet in the report.

The ranking is leaded by Norway (46.7%), then, France (34%), Sweden (33.6%), Italy (30.8%) and Finland (30.8%). Switzerland, with a share of 13.4% of women on these boards, is behind the international average of 14.7% while it's 24.4% in Europe.

The proportion of female chief executives (3,8%) is in line with the global average of 3,9%. But among senior executives generally, only 6,7% are female in Switzerland, compared with 13,8% globally. 

And Ms Waldner stressed that “We need more women in the finance, strategy and business units to change that — in fact, we need three times more than we have today in order to merely match the European average.”

The report analyzed around 3.400 companies (78 swiss ones) and 27.000 executives all over the world across all sectors (consumer staples, telecoms, financials, healthcare, utilities, consumer discretionary, information technology, energy, materials, industrials).