French Companies Must Measure and Report Gender Representation Gaps in Top Management

The French Labor Code requires companies with 1,000 or more employees to publish and provide the French authorities with (1) the equality index and (2) the gaps in representation between men and women among their senior executives (cadre dirigeant) and governing bodies. The 2024 campaign results show that, while more companies are complying with this obligation, gender parity remains a challenge.

Specifically, 58% of companies provided the required information in 2024, compared to 49% in 2023. However, there is still a long way to go in terms of moving toward gender parity, since 57% of companies with more than 1,000 employees had fewer than 30% women senior executives, and 38% had fewer than 30% women on their management bodies.

The French government has decided to revise the measurement tool by introducing thresholds to encourage in-scope employers to achieve a minimum proportion of 30% of each gender among their senior executives and governing bodies as from March 1, 2026. This proportion will increase to 40% on March 1, 2029. Employers that do not meet these minimum thresholds may be subject to a fine.

WHO DOES THIS APPLY TO?

The French Labor Code requires all employers, regardless of headcount, to “take into account the objective of eliminating pay gaps between women and men”.[1] However, only companies employing at least 1,000 employees for the third consecutive year are required to publish the representation gaps among their senior executives and members of their governing bodies.[2]

WHAT IS THE METHODOLOGY?

Positions to Be Taken into Account

The positions to be included in the calculation base are as follows:

• Senior executives
• Members of governing bodies

The following are considered to be senior executives:[3]

• Individuals entrusted with responsibilities of such stature that it implies a great deal of independence in the organization of their work schedule
• Individuals who are empowered to make largely autonomous decisions
• Individuals who receive remuneration at the highest levels of the company's remuneration systems

These criteria are cumulative.

Any body set up within the company by any corporate decision or practice, for the purpose of regularly assisting the general management bodies in the performance of their duties, is considered to be a governing body for these purposes.[4]

Examples include:

• in a French société anonyme (SA) or société en commandite par actions (SCA), a committee set up by general management to assist it regularly in the performance of its general duties. This committee may be referred to in various ways. The Management Board (directoire), Supervisory Board (conseil de surveillance) or Board of Directors (conseil d’administration) are excluded, and are already subject to a quota system introduced in 2011; and
• in a French société par actions simplifiée (SAS), the body set up to assist the chairman in all its general management duties, however it may be described.

Collegial management bodies to which the company’s bylaws confer management powers are excluded.

Calculation Methods

For the purposes of the calculations, the employer must establish the percentages of women and men among:

• all senior executives; and
• all members of governing bodies, including non-salaried individuals.

In accordance with the French Labor Code, the proportion of men and women must be assessed each year, over a period of 12 consecutive months corresponding to the financial year, based on the time spent by each man and woman, over this reference period, as senior executives or members of governing bodies.[5]

PUBLICATION

The results are published annually, in a publicly accessible manner, by March 1 at the latest, according to the same schedule as the equality index. The results must remain available for review until the following year's publication. They should be published on the company's website, where one exists, or brought to the attention of employees by any other means,[6] and included in the Economic, Social and Environmental Database (BDESE), which contains all the documents provided to the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), formerly the works council.[7]

If the gaps cannot be calculated, the company is not subject to the above-mentioned obligations, but must provide the French authorities in charge of controlling the respect of labor laws by employers and the CSE with details explaining why the gaps could not be calculated.

The companies concerned must also report to the administration via a dedicated website[8] (1) the results and the information used to obtain them and (2) details of where the results have been internally published. As of March 1, 2026, any corrective measures planned or already implemented by the employer must also be set out. Further, from March 1, 2029, targets established by the employer for measuring progress and the methods for publishing these targets and corrective measures must also be provided.[9]

EXPECTED RESULTS AND POTENTIAL SANCTIONS

Currently, the obligation to publish these gaps in representation is not subject to any quantified targets or sanctions.

From March 1, 2026, in-scope employers will be required to achieve a minimum proportion of 30% of each sex among senior executives and members of governing bodies. With effect from March 1, 2029, this proportion will be increased to 40%.

From March 1, 2026, if the company fails to reach the minimum proportions, it will have to set out appropriate and relevant corrective measures and engage in mandatory negotiations on professional equality on this basis. If the employer is unable to reach an in-house collective agreement, the employer will ultimately be able to determine these measures by unilateral decision, after consultation with the CSE. Any in-house collective agreement reached, or unilateral decision ultimately made by the employer, must be filed on the TéléAccords platform.

The administrative authority may then present its own observations on the planned measures. These observations must be presented to the company's administrative or supervisory body, as well as to the CSE, which the company will need to consider and reflect on.

From March 1, 2029, companies that fail to meet their obligations in this area will have two years to comply, and will be required to publish progress targets and corrective measures which they propose will enable them to achieve the 40% target. If the 40% target has not been reached by the end of this period, the labor authorities will initiate a further procedure to allow the employer to justify any reasons for its failure. At the end of this procedure, the employer could be held liable for a financial penalty set at a maximum of 1% of total payroll.

The amount of the penalty may vary according to

• the company's initial results;
• the efforts made and measures taken by the company in terms of improving gender representation;
• the level of good faith shown by the employer; and
• the reasons for the employer’s default.

In-scope employers should consider these requirements and start to prepare for the introduction of gender thresholds and corresponding reporting obligations.