In recent months, the call for regulatory intervention to promote gender diversity on U .S . boards of directors has gotten louder and become more urgent . The U .S . Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report in December 2015 that analyzed gender diversity on U .S . corporate boards . In 2014, when the study data was collected, women comprised approximately half of the U .S . workforce, but only held approximately 16% of board seats of S&P 1500 companies . The report indicated that, based on current trends, it could take 10 years for women to comprise 30% of board positions and more than 40 years for representation of women to be equal to that of men.

Among other recommendations, the report suggested that in order to improve female board representation, the Securities and Exchange Commission amend its current regulations regarding disclosure of diversity statistics on corporate boards . The report notes that if reporting requirements were made more specific and disclosures regarding gender and racial diversity of board members were mandated, there would be more pressure on public companies to address board composition.

Originally published in Directors & Boards on May 15, 2016.