'Slow progress' in U.S. and globally for women on boards.

• Position: BOARD REPORT

Ed. Note: GMI Ratings released in May 2013 its annual report on Women on Boards. Based on data for almost 6,000 companies in 45 countries, and including historical data, the survey provides a broad and detailed assessment of global progress on gender diversity among corporate directors. The survey is authored by Kimberly Gladman, Ph.D., CFA, managing director, ESG Research, and Michelle Lamb, GMI's senior research associate. An overview from the report follows.

The survey finds extremely slow progress in most of the world outside Europe, which has led on this issue through the adoption of legal mandates for the representation of women on corporate board. The findings will be of particular interest to investors and others seeking to increase board diversity through nonlegislative means in North America and elsewhere.

Key findings:

* Women now hold 11% of board seats at the world's largest and best-known companies. This marks an increase of one-half of a percentage point since December 2011 and only 1.7 percentage points since 2009.

* Europe accounts for most of the modest improvements in the representation of women on corporate boards. Excluding Europe, female representation on boards has risen only eight-tenths of one percentage point since 2009. Indeed, more than half of the new female directors since 2009 have joined European boards.

* Norway, Sweden and Finland continue to lead the developed world in their percentage of female directors, with 36.1%, 27.0%, and 26.8%, respectively.

* Italy and France are seeing significant increases in women's representation following the passage of recent laws on board diversity. France now ranks fourth in the world for female directors, with 18.3%, and more than half of French boards have at least three women.

* The percentage of women on U.K. boards has risen 4% since 2009, possibly in reaction to the threat of...