New database puts female experts in the spotlight

The Brussels secretary of state for equal opportunities has created an online database of female experts in a variety of subject areas.

Bianca Debaets has worked with the gender-equality non-profit Amazone to create expertes.brussels, which brings together female experts for consultation by the press, government and other organisations, and will act as a recruitment pool.

As of the start of this year, all business receiving government subsidies or quoted on the stock exchange must have at least one woman for every three board members. Many companies have yet to comply. “Companies often say they can’t find suitable women,” said Marleen Teugels of Amazone. “The new database will provide a response to that argument.”

When the law on the quota was passed in 2011, one in 10 members of company boards were female. After a transition period of five years, the number for Belgium as a whole should have gone up to one in three, but that legal minimum is far from being reached in the Brussels region, where many larger companies are based.

“A balanced composition of men and women in company boardrooms is economically interesting for the companies involved, and for the many female experts to get the chance to show their abilities,” said Debaets (pictured).

The database, made possible by a subsidy of €34,000 from the region, lists more than 100 female experts in 14 business sectors, including economics, religion, sport, media and ICT.

“We are focusing on company boards, but any organisation looking for a speaker, or a journalist looking for an expert, can also consult the list,” Teugels said. “We’d like to make it as easily accessible as possible.”

Photo: Mavugo/Wikimedia