03/08/2024 15:04
Zagreb, March 8, 2024 ‒ This year, the Zagreb Stock Exchange is once again among more than 100 world stock exchanges where the start of trading on the occasion of International Women's Day is signaled by the symbolic ringing of the bell.The stock bell was rung by Ivana Gažić, President of the Management Board of the Zagreb Stock Exchange, and State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Tereza Rogić Lugarić as the representative of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia.
The statistics are still not in women's favor: globally, women hold only 22% of board seats, 15.7% hold the positions of financial directors, 6.7% are presidents of supervisory boards, and only 5% hold the position of executive directors. At the same time, research shows that companies with a higher level of diversity at the executive level perform better when it comes to profitability and long-term value creation.
A new report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that women will not achieve equality with men for another 131 years. In other words, only in 2154. The overall gender gap — a measure of equality in the areas of economy, politics, health and education — narrowed by just 0.3% compared to last year, according to the WEF's report for last year.
This topic is becoming increasingly important for capital markets. Gender equality is one of the main values of the EU, and a major turning point is the adoption of the Directive on women on boards of directors, which seeks to improve the gender balance in the boards of the largest listed companies in the EU. The member states of the Directive oblige to increase the share of women in director positions by the middle of 2026, so companies will have to have at least 40% women in their supervisory boards, or women will have to be appointed to 33% of all director positions in companies, Ivana Gažić, President of the Management Board of the Zagreb Stock Exchange, said on the occasion. The share of issuers on the Zagreb Stock Exchange that do not have any female board members is very high at 67%, while 34% of supervisory boards do not have a single woman. The code of the Zagreb Stock Exchange and Hanfa stipulates that every five years the issuer's supervisory board must set as a goal the percentage of female members of the supervisory board and the board, which must be achieved in the next five years. We celebrate this day in honor of all women who have contributed to equality in the past and pave the way for the women who come after us, so that our daughters can live in a more equal society. Economic independence is a key factor for women's equality, and the full involvement of both sexes in business is crucial for the success of companies, therefore their full inclusion in management structures is a necessity, concluded Ivana Gažić.
UN member states have agreed on 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030, and goal 5.5 is specifically related to gender equality: Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
Ring the Bell for Gender Equality is a global event that is held at numerous world stock exchanges in order to draw attention to the important role of the business sector in promoting gender equality, and for the purpose of achieving the goals of sustainable development and raising awareness of the principles of women's empowerment. The global event is organized by the UN Global Compact with UN Women, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (UN SSE), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Federation of Stock Exchanges (WFE).
The Zagreb Stock Exchange is a member of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative (UN SSE) and as such is dedicated to the global goals of sustainable development in the field of capital market services.
