Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir has called for a meeting inviting representatives of Iceland’s business community to discuss gender equality on company boards and to examine the functionality of the recent gender quota law, RÚV reports.
Under the gender quota law, which took effect last fall, companies in Iceland had to ensure that at least 40% of board members were women before the new year.
According to research by Creditinfo the growth of gender equality amongst board members is laggard, despite the law. In December women made up 23,1 percent of board members in Icelandic companies, a slight increase on the 22,9 percent prior to the law taking effect.
“What I intend to do now is seek out opinions from the business community. I have heard both points of view [where this law is concerned] as well as from those who oppose it.” Árnadóttir said. Árnadóttir had herself opposed gender quotas when it was voted into law. She insists however that it has not been decided whether the law will be up for review.
“What I’m doing now is just a call for opinions and to seek out information on whether or not this law is working. If not, could revisions be implemented, should we give it more time, how do people imagine we could do this in the best possible way?”
The meeting will be held later this month.