On Thursday 17 October 2013, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Women Rights and spokesperson of the Government released the French Ministry of Women’s Rights recent ranking of most important companies on the French Exchange based on their degree of corporate governance feminization. WIL is thrilled to announce that one of our main partners Orange was ranked as the top company for the feminization of their corporate governance. The ranking is based on transparent monitoring of company’s feminization, taking into account quantitative measures such as the number of women on the board of directors and the number of female executives, as well as qualitative factors such as feminization policies.

This ranking recognises the significant advances that Orange has made in gender equality, considering its proactive gender equality policy and in particular the feminization of its Board of Directors (33%) and executive committee (25%). Orange consistently aims at establishing gender equality and is convinced of the economic advantages related to a gender balanced company. In addition to their recognition, Orange’s Delphine Ernotte Cunci, Senior Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Executive Officer signed a framework agreement on gender equality with Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Women Rights.

Stéphane Richard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orange, commented on the distinction stating: “I am very pleased that Orange is ranked in first place in this listing as this clearly recognizes the efforts we have made over several years in the field of gender equality. (...) We must move towards equal representation of men and women at every level of the company and towards equal career opportunities for both, but the road ahead is long. Today, one of our principal challenges in this field is to shift mentalities, and that takes time.”

Read more about Orange’s engagement for fostering feminization: press release