Quotas for Women on Corporate Boards: The Call for Change in Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Velkova
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards

Gendering Corporate Boards and Conditional Effectiveness of Board Processes: Insights from a Sub-Saharan African Country

2021 ◽  
pp. 097215092110362
Author(s):  
Obi Berko O. Damoah ◽  
Yvonne Ayerki Lamptey ◽  
Alex Anlesinya ◽  
Barbara Naa Amanuah Tetteh
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
African Country ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Corporate Board ◽  
Board Processes ◽  
Board Directors ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Board Level

This study explored how and when female board members make effective contribution to board processes in a sub-Saharan African country (Ghana), a context characterized by low female representation on corporate boards, but highly under-researched with respect to the gender and corporate governance literature. The study is based on interview data from 25 female board directors in Ghana. The results show that women on corporate boards contribute to effective board processes and outcomes when their proposed ideas during board meetings are accepted by other board members, implemented by management and impact positively on organizational outcomes such as enhanced financial, product and staff outcomes. These effective contributions of female board directors to corporate board processes can further be enhanced by suitable female directors’ personal-level conditions such as their human capital (advanced degree and professional qualification, and past board membership experience) and family support (supportive husbands, and having grown up children), as well as board-level conditions like occupying chairperson/leadership position on the board or committees, and regular attendance at board meetings. Consequently, this research study contributed to the gender and corporate governance literature by providing new evidence from under-researched geographical context on how women on corporate boards contribute to effective board processes. It further highlights personal and board-level conditions that are necessary for greater contributions of female directors to corporate board processes and outcomes in male-dominated societies and boards.

scholarly journals Women Do the Job: The Reasons to Set Quota for Women on Boards

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Sara De Masi ◽  
Agnieszka Słomka-Gołębiowska ◽  
Andrea Paci
Keyword(s):  
Audit Committee ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Board Structure ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Controlling Shareholder ◽  
Female Directors ◽  
Women On Boards ◽  
Board Monitoring ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards ◽  
Family Connection

In 2012 Italy introduced quota to increase the number of women on corporate boards. The aim of our research is to shed more lights on how women on boards, after the enforcement of quota law, improve the board functions and the board structure. Our study focuses on all Italian FTSE MIB companies from 2008 to 2015. Italy is a country where the percentage of female directors was very low before quota. Female directors, when present, were linked through a family connection to the controlling shareholder. Our research demonstrates that a higher percentage of women on boards, after the quota, leads to a higher board members attendance and more board meetings, thus a better board monitoring. We document that, after quota, one more women to the board results in increasing the board involvement in strategy and the independence of audit committee. Our findings provide empirical support on the effectiveness of female directors, suggesting important implications of the quota legislation on the “type” of women elected.

scholarly journals Women on corporate boards and allocation of capital raised through IPOs

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bazeet Olayemi Badru ◽  
Nurwati A. Ahmad-Zaluki ◽  
Wan Nordin Wan-Hussin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Capital Allocation ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment Opportunities ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards ◽  
The Impact ◽  
A Company

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the differences in men and women, such as risk aversion in decision making, can influence the amount of capital that the board of directors can allocate for investment opportunities. Design/methodology/approach This study sampled 212 IPOs over the period of 2005–2015 and employed the OLS and the quantile regression techniques to examine the impact of female directors on capital allocation. Findings The results show that women on corporate boards have a positive influence on the amount of capital an IPO company can allocate for investment opportunities. These findings suggest that the investment strategies of women in an emerging financial market, like Malaysia, may differ from women in other financial markets. Practical implications The presence of women on corporate boards plays an important role in board involvement in a company’s strategic decision at the time of the IPO. Therefore, regulators and IPO issuers should pay close attention to the corporate governance structure of a company at the time of an IPO. In addition, investors and other stakeholders of a company may consider women on corporate boards as an important factor in financing and investment decisions. Originality/value Despite several studies that have examined the influence of women on corporate boards on corporate outcomes, globally, the presence of women on corporate boards and their influence on corporate decision-making related to allocation of capital to investment opportunities, have not been fully explored in the IPO literature.

Women on corporate boards and firm's financial performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 102251 ◽  
Author(s):  
María del Carmen Valls Martínez ◽  
Salvador Cruz Rambaud
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards

Women on Corporate Boards: A Comparison of Parliamentary Discourse in the United Kingdom and France

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 443-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Chandler
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Feminist Literature ◽  
Gender Balance ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards ◽  
The Impact

In 2013 the European Commission presented a draft directive calling for member states to increase the presence of women on corporate boards. Some countries, such as France, have taken a quota approach by passing legislation requiring corporations to increase the numbers of women on their boards over time, while the governments of other states, such as the United Kingdom, have preferred measures to encourage corporations to have more inclusive boards. While there is a growing literature on the impact that an increased presence of women can have on corporate boards, as well as a solid feminist literature on the role of quotas in political structures, there has been relatively little attention to the specific ways in which political actors have viewed the question of women on corporate boards. This article compares the ways in which quotas for women in corporate boards have been examined by the legislatures of the United Kingdom and France, with attention also to parliamentary debates in Canada and Russia. It is hypothesized that variations in political discourse help explain why conservative governments adopted such different approaches toward gender balance on corporate boards.

Who Runs the Firm? A Long-Term Analysis of Gender Inequality on Swiss Corporate Boards

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
STEPHANIE GINALSKI
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corporate Elite ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Recent Arrival ◽  
Women On Corporate Boards ◽  
Corporate Elites ◽  
Term Analysis

The recent arrival of women on corporate boards has been extensively discussed in the literature. However, most of the studies focus on very recent times. This article analyzes the presence of women on the corporate boards of the largest firms in Switzerland across the past hundred years. It shows that until the beginning of the 1970s, the very few women sitting on the boardrooms belonged to the families owning the firms. Two main factors contributed then to the progressive opening of the corporate elites to women. First, the extending in 1971 of “universal suffrage” to women led to a feminization of the political elites, and women with a political profile entered the boardrooms of firms in the distribution and retailing sector. Second, the increasing globalization of the economy at the end of the twentieth century contributed to weaken the cohesion of the very male and Swiss corporate elite. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, the presence of women remained low in international comparison, and they were still hitting the “glass ceiling” regarding the top positions in the firm.

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