Calif. director chairs show #MeToo sign

California is now the first state to require companies based within its borders to put female directors on their boards, adding to pressure on boardrooms across the country to give more women a seat at the table.

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed on Sunday a bill mandating that all publicly traded companies with headquarters in the state have at least one woman on their boards by the end of next year.

By 2021, companies with at least five directors would need to have two or three female directors, depending on the size of the board, according to the new law. Those that don’t face financial penalties.

“It’s high time corporate boards include the people who constitute more than half the ‘persons’ in America,” Brown said in a letter to the state senate.

Though the law would immediately affect a lim- ited number of companies, its passage puts Silicon Valley’s startups on notice to include women on their boards as part of any plans to go public.

The law would also require tech giants such as Facebook and Google parent Alphabet, which have two female board mem- bers each, to make sure to include a third within a few years, since their boards have more than six directors.

Both firms have said they are considering women and other candidates with underrepresented backgrounds for all new appointments.