Publicly held companies headquartered in California have until January 1st to name at least one woman to their boards.
A bill signed into law by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2018 requires every public company in the state to instate at least one female director by the end of 2019, or face a $100,000 fine.
Santa Barbara State Senator Hannah Beth Jackson authored the legislation to address the disproportionately small amount of women in corporate leadership.
But the bill has sparked lawsuits from some company shareholders who say a “woman quota” would force them to make decisions based on sex.