Female on corporate boards : French perspectives : towards more diversity ?

The 1990s have been characterized by profound economic changes in France, the increasing role of financial markets and globalization, a wider uptake and use of ICT by businesses across all sectors of the economy. The challenges came with the rising Europeanization (involving the integration in a single European market) leading French firms to expand operations on a broader geographical base. Deregulation in sectors such as telecommunications led to higher competitive pressures on existing groups (incumbents). The share of large state enterprises of the economy started to decline considerably.The French corporate governance system has significantly changed over the years aiming at a more widely dispersed ownership and greater transparency. In the 1990s, the government's privatization policy led to improve corporate governance of large firms allowing them to acquire more and more resources through market financing rather than through bank borrowing. Foreign funds have begun to play an increasingly important role in the French economy and to impact corporate governance of big companies through the transformation of ownership structures (towards a more dispersed ownership).Several corporate governance principles have been applied successfully and have strengthened the rights and responsibilities of shareholders, the duties and responsibilities of the board of directors, the development of independent directors and external auditing, disclosure and transparency practices. The introduction of monitoring and control mechanisms has also had a significant impact on corporate governance rules. The presence of foreign ownership in CAC 40 listed firms has increased as well as the percentage of independent directors in CAC 40 firms. In June 2013, AFEP and MEDEF published a new version of the code of corporate governance. This revision is part of a codification process begun in 1995 and regularly updated since then, particularly in 2007, 2008 and 2010. The 2010 version made in particular recommendations regarding the representation of women on boards of directors. This chapter aims at analyzing the evolution since the end of the 1990s of the representation of women in the economic sphere and in decision-making positions (mainly CAC 40 listed firms) in France.