The French legislature is attempting to combat the age-old corporate “boy’s club” mentality by considering a law that would mandate that corporate boards be composed of at least 40% female members. The law has already passed in the lower house of parliament and is currently being debated in the Senate.

Corporate boards across the Western world are still extremely imbalanced in their gender makeup. Currently, women in France only hold 9.5% of corporate board positions. In the United States, boards are comprised of 12.2% women, and in the UK, 8.5%.

French women have been far from silent about their anger over the current gender imbalance. In Paris this May, a feminist group called La Barbe (“The Beard”) charged the stage at the shareholder meeting of Veolia Environment. The women, all sporting fake beards, protested the fact that the company’s board of 17 only includes one woman. Similar protests have occurred at meetings of other major companies, such as that of the insurance company Axa.

Norway is the only other country to have established required gender quotes, and has since seen the proportion of women on its corporate boards skyrocket. In 2002, before the quota was enacted, only 6.8% of corporate leaders were female. Now, that number has increased to 34%.

Many French officials are in favor of the gender quota, although they caution that it will not fix problems overnight. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has publicly reflected on the proposal, saying, “I used to be against quotas; you stand on your own merits and you should be recognized as such. But things are moving too slowly. There will be a lot expected of women simply because there will be resentment on the part of those who will have to make space.”

If the French legislation passes, companies would have six years to meet the quota. Should they fail to do so, the company will potentially be barred from adding any new male director. However, some worry that companies will focus more on quantity than quality in order the quickly fill quotas, and that women will be added as token members. This worry stems from the recent string of appointments of wives of famous French men to positions of corporate leadership. The public was shocked in April when Bernadette Chirac, the wife of former French president Jacques Chirac, was nominated for a position on the board of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Ms. Chirac is 77-years old, and will be the second woman on the 17-member board.

“It would be a huge mistake if boards made quantitative changes to their composition without improving quality,” says Miriam Garnier of the European Professional Women’s Network. “There is the potential to make cosmetic changes by adding women with political considerations in mind. This would be a terrible distortion of the law.”

For more information about the proposed quotas, visit http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-09/bearded-women-challenge-french-boys-club-boards-in-paris.html