Women's Board Award (WBA)

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).

Switzerland currently lags behind other Western European countries in terms of female talent at Board level. In 2018, around a fifth of new board appointments were women, bringing the overall share of women in boards up slightly to 21% (2017: 19%). The generally targeted and politically demanded level is set at 30 % in 2022.

Nominees are elected based on a transparent process and criteria. The candidates must have at least five years’ board experience at a respected firm.

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