Legarda bats for more women on corporate boards

Sen. Loren Legarda has urged leaders of Philippine corporations to put more eligible women on their boards to help promote gender equality in the boardroom.

"We definitely would like to see more women on corporate boards," Legarda said.

"If we really mean business in fostering gender equality, then corporations should be encouraged to designate more qualified women to sit on their highest policy-making bodies," Legarda said.

"Publicly listed firms should set the example for the rest of the corporate sector," Legarda pointed out. "Shareholders, too, should push for the nomination and election of more women directors."

Legarda, meanwhile, said the Securities and Exchange Commission, which, incidentally, is headed by a woman, Lilia Bautista, should encourage publicly listed firms to appoint a woman to fill up at least one of two board seats reserved for independent or outside directors.

"That would be a good start. At least one of the two new independent directors in each listed firm should preferably be a woman," Legarda said.

"Affirmative action should now extend to boardrooms," she added.

The senator cited the case of Norway, where all corporations are required, under pain of legal action, to give both men and women at least 40 percent share each of the board seats.

A United Nations Development Program (UNDP) study ranks Norway and other Nordic countries as the best places for women to live in because of stringent laws ensuring gender equality and work standards that make it easier for women to pursue careers and motherhood at the same time.