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France is at the top of the best performing countries in terms of gender equality in large companies in 2022, ahead of Spain and Italy, according to the 6th global study carried out by Equileap, for which the country nevertheless still has ” a long way to go”.
Despite this first place calculated on an average, France “still has a long way to go”, says Equileap. Indeed, no French company is in the Top 10. L’Oréal and Sodexo rank respectively 11th and 12th, far ahead of Schneider Electric (30th).
Australia, the good student
The study by the data provider Equileap (carried out in 2022), covers 3,787 companies worldwide with capitalization exceeding 2 billion dollars and screens them on 19 criteria (proportion of women at all levels, differences between remuneration , parental leave policies, etc.).
The result is a “Top 100” of the most virtuous companies and a ranking of the best countries in terms of gender equality, giving each an average score indicated as a percentage on a performance scale.
In this Top 100, the Australian company Mirvac took first place for the second year in a row. Australian companies also dominate in this Top 100, with 22 companies represented, against 14 French ones.
On average, “the best performing markets in terms of gender equality (within large companies, editor’s note) are France (55%), Spain (54%) and Italy (53%) tied with the Norway (53%). They are closely followed by the United Kingdom (52%) and Australia (50%)”says the report, pointing out on the other hand that “the United States, Japan and Hong Kong have the lowest average scores”.
Women, more and more present
In question ? “Companies in countries with strong gender equality legislation perform better”analyzes Equileap, which recalls that “in France, there are mandatory quotas for the representation of women on the board of directors (40%, since the Copé-Zimmermann law of 2011) and the executive committee” (30% from March 1, 2026, 40% from March 1, 2029 via the Rixain law adopted at the end of 2021).
In details, “France has once again reached the highest percentage of women present on the boards of directors of companies” (46% on average), underlines the study, deploring however the decline in the “percentage of female presidents in France” (8 % against 9%” the previous year) as well as the low “proportion of women in executive committees (25%)”.
“Only 10 companies” out of 119 French companies studied “had a general manager, including three in the CAC40 (Catherine MacGregor at Engie, Christel Heydemann at Orange and Estelle Brachlianoff at Veolia), and 15 companies had a female financial director (compared to 17 in 2021)”details the study.