Gender Quotas for Company Boards

Gender quotas for company boards are becoming a totemic issue of gender diversity policy in today's labour market. Throughout the Western world many countries are experimenting with compulsory gender diversity measures for board rooms. The European Union as a whole is considering to make such quotas obligatory. This book analyses the EU proposal and brings together the experiences of countries that have, to various degrees, taken the road towards formalising gender balance in the board room. It offers a critical context to these evolutions by testing the presumptions of the quotas drive on two key fronts: their relation to corporate governance and their compatibility with non-discrimination law. As the gender composition of company boards is gaining widespread attention, this book offers a timely analysis and useful perspectives that will inform both proponents and opponents. Blending disciplines as well as countries, this book will appeal to anyone with a professional interest in the topic, in particular lawyers, management consultants, and policy makers.

Table of Contents:
Preface Table of ECJ cases: alphabetical Table of ECJ cases: chronological Table of EU legislation List of abbreviations Introduction. What are General Principles of EU Civil Law? 1. An ongoing debate: "principles" vs. "rules" 2. Some preliminary suggestions 3. The express recognition of general principles by the Charter 4. What do we mean by EU civil law: acquis communautaire vs. acquis commun 5. The competence dilemma of EU civil law 6. Why seven principles? Chapter 1. The Principle of "Framed" Autonomy 1. Freedoms framed by law 2. Fundamental freedoms, autonomy and public interest restrictions 3. Freedom of contract as fundamental yet limited right and principle 4. Competition law and autonomy 5. Conclusion: framing of autonomy under welfarism aspects - going beyond the traditional approach? Chapter 2. The Principle of Protection of the Weaker Party 1. Elements of protection of the weaker party 2. Minimum standards of working hours and paid annual leave 3. EU consumer law: information vs. protection 4. Conclusion: generalising the protection of weaker parties and its limits Chapter 3. The Principle of Non-Discrimination 1. "Spill-over" effects of non-discrimination on civil law? 2. Non-discrimination in employment law relations: overview 3. Citizenship: extending the scope of the principle of non-discrimination by primary law 4. Extension of the non-discrimination principle to business-consumer relations by EU secondary law 5. A controversy: unisex tariffs in insurance and conflicts with private autonomy 6. Non-discrimination in access to and treatment in services of general economic interest and in network services: framed autonomy 7. Equal treatment beyond non-discrimination? 8. Conclusion: the varied impact of the non-discrimination principle on civil law relations Chapter 4. The Principle of Effectiveness 1. Article 47 of the Charter and Article 19 TEU: anything new? 2. The "eliminatory" function of the effectiveness principle 3. Effectiveness as a "hermeneutical" principle 4. Effectiveness as a "remedial" principle: "upgrading" national remedies 5. Some examples applying the effectiveness test in EU civil law 6. Primary Union law: rules on competition 7. Compensation for violations of directly applicable provisions of primary Union law 8. The importance of Article 47 of the Charter and Article 19(1) TEU for EU civil law revisited 9. Conclusion: how effective is the effectiveness principle? Chapter 5. The Principle of Balancing 1. Introduction: a dialogue on balancing in EU civil law 2. Balancing in unfair term jurisprudence: transparency, "core terms" and the unfairness test 3. Balancing to avoid "over-protection" 4. Role of Balancing in social conflicts: fundamental rights vs. fundamental freedoms? 5. Conclusion Chapter 6. The Principle of Proportionality 1. Importance of the principle of proportionality for EU civil law: some general remarks 2. 2. Th e Draft Common Frame of Reference 3. The "feasibility study" and draft Common European Sales Law 4. Open method of coordination, convergence and improved law-making in reflexive contract governance in the EU 5. The "positive proportionality" principle in EU civil legislation: two examples 6. Conclusions on the principle of proportionality as an instrument of legal control and support of EU measures Chapter 7. An Emerging Principle of Good Faith and of a Prohibition of Abuse of Rights? 1. Some misunderstandings about good faith in contract law: elements of a duty of loyal cooperation in contracting 2. Good faith in commercial law settings 3. Directive 93/13 on unfair terms 4. Absence of good faith obligations for the bank in B2C financial services 5. "Co-responsibility" as an indirect good faith-obligation: some examples 6. Elements of good faith in recent soft law initiatives 7. Relevance of Article 54 of the Charter to an EU concept of abuse of rights? 8. Conclusion: good faith on the move? Summary. Seven Theses and a Conclusion Index

About the Author :
Marc De Vos holds a Licentiate and Doctorate in Law (University of Ghent, 1993 and 2000), a Master in Social Law (Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1994) and a Master of Laws (Harvard University, 2000). His main areas of legal specialization, in which he has also practiced extensively, include Belgian and European employment and labour law (social law), EU institutional and constitutional law, and fundamental rights. He is also widely read in economics and political science. About these and related topics he has authored and co-authored over a dozen books and over one hundred scientific articles. He frequently publishes, teaches, lectures and debates on issues of labour and employment law, European integration, globalisation, labour market reform, pensions, ageing, healthcare and the welfare state, both nationally and internationally, and both in academic, professional and policy circles, as well as in the media. He is a professor of law at the Ghent University Law School and the University of Brussels where he teaches courses on employment and labour law, EU-law, and the rule of law. He serves as Director of LLM programmes and international relations at Ghent University Law School. He is director of the Itinera Institute, an independent policy think-tank, based in Brussels. He is a member or board member of various associations, committees and advisory bodies. He has served as a visiting professor at several universities in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asia. He has held advisory positions in various public and private organizations.