Women on Board

Women on Board Manifesto 2020-2025

Three Key Promisses

Women on Board offers to help corporates, SME’s and NGO’s build gender-diverse boards
Women on Board counts around 300 talented ladies ready for board positions, starting from C-Level experience to skillsets that vary from Financial, Digital, Strategy, Transformation, Science to People and many more. If you are looking for board members or advisory board members, we can connect you to these talents

Gender diverse boards contribute to better performing companies and organisations
Many types of research have demonstrated that gender-diverse boards are better performant, respect the equality of talents and are role models of inclusivity. As such, better performant organisations are more competitive and help the economy grow stronger.
Women on Board supports the current targets to have 33 or 40 % women on boards, but aims higher and believes that boards with a 50 % gender composition will be the future normal

Gender diverse boards are a leverage to engage for a better future
Organisations with gender-diverse boards are believed to generate added value on strong long-term vision, sustainability and considering the impact of the climate, next to good relations with social partners and having a clear diversity policy. These qualities are exactly the most top of mind challenges for boards and for society as a whole and cornerstones of the European Green Deal.

Who are we

The initiative of Women on Board is a non-profit association created by five women dedicated to promoting female access to directorship roles within Belgian enterprises (public and private). Set up in December 2009, Women on Board has now achieved its primary goals:

to create a pool of talented women ready to take up board positions,

to facilitate access to this pool for Belgian enterprises searching for female directors.

The purpose of this website is to network all parties interested in this initiative, with a view to extending its reach. Discover our corporate video!

Diversity

We respect and interact with people from different backgrounds, benefiting from their skills and experience.
We adapt to different cultural contexts/environments and to best practices in the field of diversity.

Ethics and integrity

We are very much aware of professional, ethical and legal requirements and behave accordingly.
The way we operate is consistent with expressed principles.
We are transparent and honest in our dealings with others.
We put general interest before own interest and stand by our decisions.

Empathy

We show a deep understanding for the values and motives of others and communicate effectively and concisely, with a focus on building trust.

For us, “empathy” is a form of social awareness, important for developing a moral sense.

Sharing

We build commitment by regularly communicating our vision and objectives.
We promote initiatives aimed at sharing our vision throughout organisations.
We build bridges between members to exchange expertise, stimulating fertilisation.

Make it happen

We create a “can do” climate, demonstrating an entrepreneurial attitude by proposing initiatives and making them happen.
We translate ideas into workable solutions contributing to achieve our goals.
We consider new ideas and are willing to try out different approaches involving unconventional paths.

Mission statement

Society wants more talented women to become involved in the business world in the context of good governance practices and Women on Board is willing to contribute to a better functioning and effectiveness of decision-making and governance bodies. As unanimously recognised, good governance supports long-term value creation.

In view of the above factors, we have decided to bring together qualified women with the aim of promoting diversity in boards of directors and executive committees and to give Belgian and foreign corporations free access to a pool of highly qualified female candidates ready to take up board positions.

One of our priorities is to interact with leading business players in the fields of corporate governance and women’s participation.

Women on Board is not a political or lobby organisation, and has therefore decided not to take any position on quotas. We focus instead on our main objectives of giving greater visibility to skilled women and potential board candidates, and promoting this pool of talents in the business world.

Our Governance

The Board of Directors of ‘Women on Board’ is currently composed of eleven members: three of them are founding members, one is the Chairwomen of European Women on Board, four are associate members and three are male directors. All of them bring in their energy and experience, contribute their business insight and sound advice. All have full-time professional jobs.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of ‘Women on Board’ is currently composed of four of its five founding members and three independent directors. While the founding members bring in their energy and experience, the independent directors contribute their business insight and sound advice. All have full-time professional jobs.

Corporate Partners