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 If it becomes law, companies would have to disclose the gender
composition of their boards of directors, as well as policies and
strategies related to gender diversity on their boards, she told
Reuters in an interview on Friday. The legislation would be modeled
after policies in Canada and Australia, she added.
Maloney, a Democrat, said she plans to consult with women's groups,
business organizations and other stakeholders on her draft at the
end of January and soon after introduce it in the House of
Representatives.
Currently, there is little clear data on women in the top echelon of
business leadership, which makes creating changes difficult, Maloney
said.
 Mary Jo White, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission,
called in November for more gender parity on boards, saying that
17.5 percent of the boards of Fortune 1000 companies are women, as
are 19.2 percent of those of S&P 500 companies.
Last spring, a collection of large public pension funds, including
the California Public Employees Retirement System, asked the SEC to
create new disclosures on board nominees' gender, racial, and ethnic
diversity, as well as their professional backgrounds.
Maloney, who represents a district that includes Manhattan, home to
numerous corporate boards, said she has heard for years from
constituents about low female board membership.
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The Government Accountability Office recently released a report
showing it could take more than 40 years for boards to achieve
parity if equal numbers of women and men joined each year, beginning
in 2015. If only women filled vacancies, it would take until 2024 to
reach parity, according to the study.
"This slow turnover and the slow movement forward is concerning,"
said Maloney. "If I had a daughter born today she would be facing
the same discrimination and challenges I faced."
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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