Companies organized as "ASA" corporations are required to meet a state-mandated quota that calls for 40 percent of their directors to be women.
The quota was ushered in during the previous center-right government coalition, and has been enthusiastically embraced by the current Labour Party-led government.
Equality minister Karita Bekkemellem told newspaper Aftenposten on Friday that those companies failing to meet the quota will face involuntary dissolution from January 1. Many are within traditionally male-oriented branches like the offshore oil industry, shipping and finance.
Among the firms targeted on Bekkemellem's list are some fairly large companies including Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA, securities firm Carnegie ASA, Awilco Offshore and Frontier Drilling. Some of the stocklisted companies have no women at all on their boards of directors, including DNO, Ocean Rig, PetroJack and Teco Maritime.
"My advice to them is that they take responsibility and find the women they need," she said. She called the law "historic and radical," and said it will be enforced.
