The WBA was launched to give spotlight to competent, female board chair candidates, in order for election committees and other relevant stakeholders to see that the pool of female candidates ready to take chair responsibility may be larger than we think.
The Women’s Board Award was established in 2010 in Norway to recognize excellence and achievement at the highest executive level. Sweden adopted the award in 2012, followed by Denmark (2014), Finland (2016), and Switzerland (2019).
In Germany, almost a third of the supervisory boards are now made up of women on the shareholder side. Even if this is already a positive development, especially in the nomination committees, male representatives are running the show almost without exception. As a consequence, the female CEO quota in listed companies in Germany is still far from a healthy gender diversity ratio.
Nominees are elected based on a transparent process, competency profile and criteria.
Award objectives are:
- Increase the visibility of women’s achievement at board level with the selection committees, owners, other board members and executives as well as the general public
- Support expansion of the board candidate pool
- Increase integrated board competence
- Encourage diversity at board level
- Highlight female role models for other women in business
Besides the Women’s Board Award, this time in Germany, it will be the first time we will also nominate and elect the winner for the “Next Generation Award”. This one is to provide visibility and a stage for such women who hold their very first board mandate and might not have yet the public attention they deserve. Also here, a transparent process adapted competency profile and clear nomination and selection criteria apply.