Norway has the highest level of participation of women in the boardroom than any other country in the world, having introduced a 40 per cent quota in 2003. (The quota became mandatory in 2008.)

As my colleagues and I have reported in the past, the presence of women in the boardroom in most countries is scant. According to data compiled by Catalyst, the non-profit group that aims to expand opportunities for women in business, in the US, women hold 16 per cent of directorships at Fortune 500 companies; corporate boards in Germany, the UK, and France all hover around 12 per cent. In China, women hold 8.5 per cent of board seats; in India it’s 5.3 per cent; and in Japan, less than 1 per cent of directors are women.

Back to Norway for a moment. Is it the way forward?