California Defends Board Diversity Law as Needed Step for Women, But Won't Enforce it
- Board diversity requirement is under attack by conservatives
- Los Angeles judge will rule on challenge after non-jury trial
Source: iStockphoto/Bloomberg
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A lawyer for California urging a judge to uphold the state’s diversity requirement for company boards said women may have to wait as long as 70 years to gain equal representation with male directors without prodding from government.
A quarter of California-based companies in the Russell 2000 index had no women on their boards in 2016, Ashante Norton, lawyer for the secretary of state, said in her closing argument at the end of a trial. And among the largest companies listing on a stock exchange for the first time, almost half went public between 2014 and 2016 with no female representation, she said.