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Women directors and E&S performance: Evidence from board gender quotas

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  • Ginglinger, Edith
  • Raskopf, Caroline

Abstract

Using the natural experiment created by France's 2011 board gender quota law, we find that the presence of women on boards increases firms' environmental and social (E&S) performance. After the quota law, firms are more likely to create an E&S committee, and women directors are increasingly serving as members of the main board committees and as chairs of E&S committees. We find that prior to being recruited to boards, women directors have more environmental and social experience than men. Combined with their increased authority after the introduction of quotas, their E&S skills allow them to steer companies toward more E&S-oriented policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ginglinger, Edith & Raskopf, Caroline, 2023. "Women directors and E&S performance: Evidence from board gender quotas," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:83:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923001451
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102496
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board of directors; Gender quotas; Gender diversity; Critical mass theory; Board committees; Environmental and social committee; Environmental and social performance; Corporate social responsibility (CSR); Director skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K38 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Human Rights Law; Gender Law; Animal Rights Law
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

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