EU Commission head urges firms to promote more women to top positions

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (R) welcomes Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama prior to their meeting at the EC headquarters in Brussels, Belgium March 1, 2021. [Aris Oikonomou/Pool via REUTERS]

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urged companies on Thursday to promote more women to top positions, even though efforts to introduce binding quotas for European boards have stalled.

European Commission data shows fewer than 7% of top companies' CEOs are women and recent reports suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may be reversing equality gains in the workplace.