Women were 26.1% of chairmen and members of Boards of Directors in Icelandic enterprises at the end of 2017. The proportion of women in Boards of Directors ranged from 21.3% to 22.3% between 1999 and 2006, increased to 25.5% in 2014, and has remained unchanged at approximately 26% for the past three years.
In 2017, women were 32.6% of boards of directors of enterprises of 50 or more persons employed, similar to the preceding two years. For comparison, women were 12.7% of boards of directors in 2007 and 9.5% in 1999. Recent legislation states that proportions of board members in medium and large enterprises should not be below 40% for either gender. Percentages of men vs. women as board members of smaller enterprises have shown little change over the last few years. The proportion of women as board members in enterprises of 50 or more persons employed peaked at 33.2% in 2014, but has decreased slightly since then. Proportion of women as members of boards of directors of enterprises with fewer than 50 persons employed was 25.7% in 2017.
The proportion of women as managers of enterprises in 2017 was 22.1%, which is unchanged from 2016 after a slight but steady increase since 1999. Proportion of women as chairmen of the board was 23.9% in 2017, the same as in 2016.
Data on the number of managers, chairmen and members of Board of Directors are presented by sex, economic activity and size of enterprises. Since the last update, there has been additional information on the activity of enterprises in 2016. The tables for 2016 have been updated accordingly. Exhaustive dataset is available on the website of Statistics Iceland.