Publicly-listed companies in the European Union (EU) should do more to ensure they increase the presence of women on their boards.

This is according to the EU justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, who has challenged businesses to sign a new "Women on the Board Pledge for Europe".

Firms are being urged to ink the voluntary agreement by March 2012, which commits to raising the proportion of females on corporate executives to 15 per cent by 2015 and 40 per cent five years later.

Ms Reding has been holding meetings with social partners and business leaders about the issue and she commented: "Enhancing women's participation in boardrooms can make companies more profitable and trigger sustainable economic growth."

She added she wants to assess whether self regulation proves successful before legislatory intervention is considered.

The commission vice-president was responding to figures showing at present, only one in ten members of corporate boards in the EU are female, with 97 per cent of such groups chaired by men.

Posted by Alex Donnell