Women were 26.5% of chairs and members of Boards of Directors in Icelandic enterprises at the end of 2019. 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 at approximately 26% for the past years.
In 2019, women were 34.7% of boards of directors in enterprises with 50 or more persons employed. This is a 1.1 percentage point increase from 2018. For comparison, women were 12.7% of boards of directors in 2007 and 9.5% in 1999. Recent legislation states that the proportion of board members in medium and large enterprises should not be below 40% for either gender. The proportion of women as members of boards of directors in enterprises with fewer than 50 persons employed was 26.1% in 2019, which is a 0.2 percentage point increase from 2018.
The proportion of women as managers of enterprises in 2019 was 23.0%, continuing a slight but steady increase since 1999. Proportion of women as chairs of the board was 24.3% in 2019.
Data on the number of managers, chairs and members of Board of Directors are presented by gender and age, economic activity and size of enterprises. Since the last update, there has been additional information on the activity of enterprises in 2018. The tables for 2018 have been updated accordingly.