Chile promotes greater participation of women on boards of directors

A new bill aims to increase the participation of women on the boards of publicly traded and special corporations, establishing a suggested maximum quota of 60% for the gender with greater representation.

With broad support, the Chamber of Deputies approved the “More Women on Boards” bill, which aims to boost participation of women on the boards of publicly traded and special corporations supervised by the Financial Market Commission (CMF).

After completing its initial vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the legislation will now be discussed in the Senate.

The Undersecretary of Economy and Small Businesses, Javiera Petersen, celebrated the progress of the bill, highlighting the legislative work that included civil society organizations and lawmakers from all political sectors.

«Following months of work and with the common goal of having more diverse boards, an innovative and gradual design received broad support today, which will enable our country to advance in equality while also better preparing businesses for the technological, social, and environmental challenges that Chile faces,» she said.

According to the Fifth Report on Gender Indicators in Chilean Companies 2023, currently only 15.9% of board members in companies supervised by the CMF are women.

Additionally, 4 out of 10 companies have no women on their boards.

More Women on Boards

The approved bill proposes a suggested maximum quota of 60% for the gender with greater representation on company boards.

Every four years, starting from the sixth year after the law is passed, the CMF will assess the adoption of the policy using objective indicators. These indicators require that at least 80% of companies adopt the suggested quota and that less than 5% have no women on their boards.

If any of these indicators are not met, companies that have not adopted the suggestion will enter a transitional period for required quotas for four years, until the next assessment period.

If the non-compliance is only related to companies without any women on their boards, that group will enter the transitional required quota phase.

It is worth noting that the law’s implementation will be gradual. In the first three years, the suggestion will be that boards may not exceed 80% for the gender with greater representation. Between the fourth and sixth years, the limit will be 70%, and then the suggested 60% quota will apply.