"Is There Progress? Analyzing the Gender Balance in Boards of Romanian Listed Companies Over the Past 4 Years"

Directive (EU) 2022/2381 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 November 2022 on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures (the ‘Directive’) was adopted by the European Parliament on 22 November 2022, published in the Official Journal of the EU on 7 December 2022 and it entered into force on 27 December 2022. Member States have two years from this date to implement the provisions. Romania is in its way for the implementation – Romanian Ministry of Finance organized a public debate on this subject in February 2024.

According to the Directive, Member States may choose between two alternative mandatory quotas with regard to gender balance on boards:

-        a quota of at least 40% of the underrepresented gender can be set for the supervisory board of the companies concerned - individual quantitative objectives for improving the gender balance on the board must also be set.

-        a Member State can now alternatively choose to pursue a common quota for the supervisory board and the management board of a listed company - the underrepresented gender must hold at least 33% of the positions on both boards.

Unfortunately, even though some of the companies have stated that they are promoters of the corporate governance principles, the facts have showed that they are supporting the implementation of corporate governance principles only when they need to be applied to other companies, but not to itself.

The surprise (a pleasant surprise this time) was offered by the Romanian Government that imposed the rule of having women presence in all listed companies controlled by Romanian state.

Gender balance for companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange (BET index)

Currently Romania has no target quota in the national legislation in force and from data below there are minor changes in gender balance for listed companies during last 4 years. The situation is captured below.

In summary, we keep the same split as last year for the companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange (currently included in BET index) in:

-        The category ‘no women’ with no female representation at the level of the board: Digi Communications N.V., Sphera Franchise Group and TERAPLAST SA

-        The category ‘one and done’ with only one woman in board composition: AQUILA PART PROD COM, OMV PETROM S.A., C.N.T.E.E. TRANSELECTRICA, MedLife S.A., FONDUL PROPRIETATEA, and S.N.G.N. ROMGAZ S.A.

-        The category ‘regression is the opposite of evolution’ with companies that reduced female representation at the level of the board during last years: CONPET SA and TERAPLAST SA

-        The category ‘work in progress’ with female representation at the level of the board, but below the target mentioned in Directive: BANCA TRANSILVANIA S.A., BURSA DE VALORI BUCURESTI SA, HIDROELECTRICA SA, MEDLIFE SA, ONE UNITED PROPERTIES, SOCIETATEA ENERGETICA ELECTRICA S.A., and S.N. NUCLEARELECTRICA S.A.

-        The category ‘mission achieved’: BRD - GROUPE SOCIETE GENERALE S.A., PURCARI WINERIES PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED, TTS (TRANSPORT TRADE SERVICES), and S.N.T.G.N. TRANSGAZ S.A. (although the appointments are temporary)

There are chances to have new legislation encouraging companies to attract experienced women in their boards. But how long will take to have the new legislation implemented?