France to push women into the boardroom (whether they want to go there or not)

Article here. Excerpt:

'The French version of the glass ceiling has just been cracked open by parliamentary vote. With the backing of President Sarkozy's administration, the National Assembly last night passed a bill that aims to force big companies to appoint women to 40 percent of their seats on the board. The quota is likely to reach the statue books, with amendments, later this year, making France the biggest state so far to use the law to break the boys only culture of the boardroom. Norway introduced a 40 percent rule in 2002 when women accounted for only 6 per cent of board seats there. Spain has also just passed a similar law.
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Male opponents are wondering -- though not publicly -- where France will find enough qualified femmes d'affaires. Jean-François Copé, the UMP parliamentary leader and co-author of the bill, pointed out that women managers handled the financial crisis better than men. "A business is not going to go bankrupt because it has as many women as men on the board," he said. Some of the media reporting has illustrated the distance that France has yet to travel towards equality. The parity quota was "not aimed at bringing more glamour to the boardroom", Europe 1 radio joked yesterday morning.

Leading businesswomen initially opposed quotas but many have changed their minds in the face of continuing refusal by les machistes of the the old guard to feminise the upper ranks. "The situation in France is abnormal. If we cannot manage otherwise then let's make things move with quotas," said "Atomic Anne" Lauvergeon, the chief of Areva, the nuclear power giant, who is France's senior corporate female.'