Did they go too far?

According to the Norwegian daily Aftenposten all A.S.A corporations will have to appoint women on their boards of directors, or be dissolved. The centre-left Norwegian government issued this warning for approx. 140 companies that still did not reach the mandatory 40% of their directors to be women.

“My advice to them is that they take responsibility and find the women they need,” said Equality minister Karita Bekkemellem. She called the law “historic and radical,” and said it will be enforced on January the 1st.

Is it a wise decision- to appoint the top managers based on gender, not based on their competence? Are women really ok with this kind of promotion? I wouldn’t be, I think it is rather degrading.
And what do the shareholders say? After all, is about their money, they don’t usually care if the managers are men or women, they should be competent for their job.