Henryka Bochniarz: Enough Excuses. Women Are Ready, Time to Open Doors to Boards

Poland has enacted a law aimed at improving gender balance on corporate boards, implementing an EU directive. However, President Andrzej Duda announced plans to refer certain provisions to the Constitutional Tribunal for review, introducing legal uncertainty. The new legislation mandates that large, publicly traded companies must ensure that individuals of the underrepresented gender hold at least 33% of positions on their management and supervisory boards, with at least one seat in each body. This move seeks to address the significant gender disparity in corporate leadership. Despite the law's implementation, concerns linger regarding its potential impact on business freedom and corporate autonomy. Critics argue the law might impose excessive administrative burdens. However, proponents counter that the regulation targets only major listed companies already subject to extensive corporate governance rules and does not dictate specific candidate appointments or override competency assessments. Statistical data highlights the necessity of such measures. In Poland, women constitute over 42% of managerial positions but hold only about 15% of seats on management boards and 23% on supervisory boards among companies in the WIG140 index as of July 2026. A significant 68 out of 140 companies have no women on their management boards, and 17 have no women in any board positions. This places Poland considerably below the EU average, where women occupy roughly 36% of board seats in major listed companies. While the debate over quotas continues, with arguments often centering on competence, the persistent underrepresentation of qualified women in top corporate roles underscores the limitations of voluntary measures. Best practice recommendations from 2021 suggested a minimum of 30% representation for each gender, yet progress remains slow, with nearly half of major companies still lacking female representation on their management boards.