| dc.description.abstract | Sabanci University Corporate Governance Forum (CGFT), in
strategic partnership with Egon Zehnder International (EZI)
Turkey, initiated the “Independent Women Directors (IWD)”
project in 2012. The initiative was motivated by the Capital
Markets Board of Turkey (CMBT) ruling that came to force
in January 2012 and required that 1/3 of the board members
to independent. Although the same ruling recommended
inclusion of at least one female director on every board, the
result was dilution of boards with respect to women from
12.5% to 11.5%, since companies increased their board size
and predominantly appointed men as independent directors.
IWD is a response to this unintended consequence. It aims
to help companies to consider female candidates when
nominating independent directors. To this end, a database of
qualified women is created based on voluntary applications.
Each candidate is evaluated against the criteria established
by the Forum and EZI Turkey. As of the end of 2015, IWD
database has approximately 300 board-qualified women.
In 2013, CMBT revised its recommendation upon considering
the draft proposed by IWD. Accordingly, the new clause 4.3.9
of the CMBT’s current Corporate Governance Principles
required that listed companies set a target rate for female board
members of no less than 25% and a target date, and establish
a policy that will make it possible to reach these targets. The
board is expected to evaluate and report the progress made in
reaching the target on an annual basis. The ruling is based on
“Comply or Explain” approach and the companies that do not
set a target must explain why they don’t in their mandatory
annual Corporate Governance Compliance Reports.
Since 2012, IWD Project helped a number of companies and
investors, including International Finance Corporation (IFC),
to find suitable female candidates to nominate to boards. The
Project also includes the piloting of a shareholder initiative
that makes use of mandatory electronic general assemblies
in Turkey to ask questions to the boards about their gender
diversity targets.
IWD will be rolled into a membership based Independent
Women Directors Platform in 2016 and will host the Turkey
Chapter of UK based 30% Club. | en_US |
