U Not Gonna Like This

This story linked from Men's News Daily:

A Woman's Place Is In The Boardroom
Chris Noon, 09.25.06, 6:00 AM ET

If you’re a woman, rising the corporate ranks is never easy. Unless you live in Norway.

Within the next year, the 510 Norwegian companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange must have 40% of their respective board seats occupied by women. Any company failing to comply will be booted off the OSE. For now, the law passed in 2002 only applies to publicly traded companies. But the government is considering extending the law’s reach to cover family-owned companies as well.

Since the Norwegian government first issued its mandate, things have improved. The number of companies in compliance has risen from 17.5% to 29.6%. Still, the country’s companies need to get cracking. Nearly 33% of public companies don’t have a single woman board member. And as of July 1, only 151 of 510 firms on the OSE meet the 40% representation rule. The number of women in top jobs isn’t good. Out of 562 women who are board members in the country, only 11 are chairmen of the board, and 15 are deputy chairmen.