IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iza/izawol/journl2018n7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender quotas on boards of directors

Author

Listed:
  • Nina Smith

    (Aarhus University, Denmark, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Arguments for increasing gender diversity on boards of directors by gender quotas range from ensuring equal opportunity to improving firm performance. The introduction of gender quotas in a number of countries has increased female representation on boards. Current research does not justify gender quotas on grounds of economic efficiency. In many countries the number of women in top executive positions is limited, and it is not clear from the evidence that quotas lead to a larger pool of female top executives, who are the main pipeline for boards of directors. Thus, other supplementary policies may be necessary if politicians want to increase the number of women in senior management positions.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Smith, 2018. "Gender quotas on boards of directors," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:2018:n:7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/7/pdfs/gender-quotas-on-boards-of-directors.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://wol.iza.org/articles/gender-quotas-on-boards-of-directors
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David A. Matsa & Amalia R. Miller, 2013. "A Female Style in Corporate Leadership? Evidence from Quotas," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 136-169, July.
    2. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    3. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 5.
    4. Giulia Ferrari & Valeria Ferraro & Paola Profeta & Chiara Pronzato, 2022. "Do Board Gender Quotas Matter? Selection, Performance, and Stock Market Effects," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 5618-5643, August.
    5. Nina Smith & Valdemar Smith & Mette Verner, 2006. "Do women in top management affect firm performance?A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 55(7), pages 569-593, October.
    6. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    7. Bøhren, Øyvind & Staubo, Siv, 2014. "Does mandatory gender balance work? Changing organizational form to avoid board upheaval," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 152-168.
    8. Kenneth R. Ahern & Amy K. Dittmar, 2012. "The Changing of the Boards: The Impact on Firm Valuation of Mandated Female Board Representation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 137-197.
    9. Nina Smith & Pierpaolo Parrotta, 2018. "Why so Few Women on Boards of Directors? Empirical Evidence from Danish Companies in 1998–2010," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 445-467, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jose Garcia-Louzao & Ruben Perez-Sanz, 2024. "Women’s Voice at Work and Family-Friendly Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 10982, CESifo.
    2. Rebérioux, Antoine & Roudaut, Gwenael, 2016. "Gender Quota inside the Boardroom: Female Directors as New Key Players?," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1603, CEPREMAP.
    3. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Smith, Nina, 2013. "Why So Few Women on Boards of Directors? Empirical Evidence from Danish Companies 1997-2007," IZA Discussion Papers 7678, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Agata Maida & Andrea Weber, 2022. "Female Leadership and Gender Gap within Firms: Evidence from an Italian Board Reform," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(2), pages 488-515, March.
    5. Mahmoud Ahmed, 2023. "The long-term effects of female board representation on accounting quality: Causal evidence," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 109-118, June.
    6. Nina Smith, 2014. "Quota Regulations of Gender Composition on Boards of Directors," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(02), pages 42-48, July.
    7. Audinga Baltrunaite & Mario Cannella & Sauro Mocetti & Giacomo Roma, "undated". "Board composition and performance of state-owned enterprises: Quasi-experimental evidence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1328, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    8. Kuzey, Cemil & Fritz, Morgane M.C. & Uyar, Ali & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2022. "Board gender diversity, CSR strategy, and eco-friendly initiatives in the transportation and logistics sector," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    9. Yan‐xi Li & Chao He, 2023. "Board diversity and corporate innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 1092-1115, January.
    10. Liu, Jacie Jia & Daly, Kevin & Mishra, Anil V., 2022. "Board gender diversity and bank risks: Evidence from Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1040-1052.
    11. Huang, Peng & Lu, Yue & Wu, Ji, 2023. "Does board diversity in industry-experience boost firm value? The role of corporate innovation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Bernile, Gennaro & Bhagwat, Vineet & Yonker, Scott, 2018. "Board diversity, firm risk, and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(3), pages 588-612.
    13. María del Pilar López Uribe & María Alejandra Chávez & María Paula Neira & Paulina Pastrana, 2021. "La Agenda Global de Género: un camino para el empoderamiento," Documentos CEDE 19150, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    14. Chen, Jie & Leung, Woon Sau & Evans, Kevin P., 2018. "Female board representation, corporate innovation and firm performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 236-254.
    15. Ferretti, Fabrizio & Mariani, Michele, 2017. "Gender Discrimination, Gender Disparities in Obesity and Human Development," MPRA Paper 77728, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2014:i:2:p:19116215 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Carter, David A. & Shank, Corey A., 2023. "Do religiosity and political beliefs affect female representation and firm performance?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    18. Alexandra Fedorets & Anna Gibert & Norma Burow, 2019. "Gender Quotas in the Boardroom: New Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1810, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Alexandra Fedorets & Anna Gibert, 2022. "Lifting Women Up: Gender Quotas and the Advancement of Women on Corporate Boards," Working Papers 1370, Barcelona School of Economics.
    20. Simona Comi & Mara Grasseni & Federica Origo & Laura Pagani, 2020. "Where Women Make a Difference: Gender Quotas and Firms’ Performance in Three European Countries," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 768-793, May.
    21. Jochen Theis & Marvin Nipper, 2021. "The Impact of Executives’ Gender, Financial Incentives, and Shareholder Pressure on Corporate Social and Ecological Investments," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 307-338, December.
    22. Ruiying Xiao, 2024. "Female Entrepreneur on Board:Assessing the Effect of Gender on Corporate Financial Constraints," Papers 2401.02134, arXiv.org.
    23. Simona, Comi & Mara, Grasseni & Federica, Origo & Laura, Pagani, 2017. "Where Women Make The Difference. The Effects of Corporate Board Gender Quotas on Firms’ Performance across Europe," Working Papers 367, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 12 Jul 2017.
    24. Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenael Roudaut, 2017. "Gender Quota and Inequalities inside the Boardroom," Working Papers hal-01618949, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenaël Roudaut, 2016. "Gender Quota inside the Boardroom: Female Directors as New Key Players?," Working Papers hal-01297884, HAL.
    2. Chiara Pronzato & Paola Profeta & Valeria Ferraro & Giulia Ferrari, 2016. "Gender Quotas: Challenging the Boards, Performance, and the Stock Market," Working Papers id:11411, eSocialSciences.
    3. Giulia Ferrari & Valeria Ferraro & Paola Profeta & Chiara Pronzato, 2022. "Do Board Gender Quotas Matter? Selection, Performance, and Stock Market Effects," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 5618-5643, August.
    4. Sanjukta Brahma & Chioma Nwafor & Agyenim Boateng, 2021. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: The UK evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5704-5719, October.
    5. Barbara Pistoresi & Erica Poma & Alberto Rinaldi, 2022. "Gender quota on corporate boards in Italy: spillover effects and financial performance," Department of Economics 0208, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    6. Töpfer, Marina, 2018. "The effect of women directors on innovation activity and performance of corporate firms: Evidence from China," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 15-2018, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    7. Ferreira, Daniel & Ginglinger, Edith & Laguna, Marie-Aude & Skalli, Yasmine, 2017. "Board Quotas and Director-Firm Matching," CEPR Discussion Papers 12117, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Luca Flabbi & Mario Macis & Andrea Moro & Fabiano Schivardi, 2019. "Do Female Executives Make a Difference? The Impact of Female Leadership on Gender Gaps and Firm Performance," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(622), pages 2390-2423.
    9. Nina Smith, 2014. "Quota Regulations of Gender Composition on Boards of Directors," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(2), pages 42-48, 07.
    10. Lone Engbo Christiansen & Ms. Huidan Huidan Lin & Ms. Joana Pereira & Petia Topalova & Ms. Rima A Turk, 2016. "Gender Diversity in Senior Positions and Firm Performance: Evidence from Europe," IMF Working Papers 2016/050, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Ding, Rong & Duan, Tinghua & Hou, Wenxuan & Liu, Xianda & Xu, Ziwei, 2022. "Do women drive corporate social responsibility? Evidence from gender diversity reforms around the world," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    12. Simona, Comi & Mara, Grasseni & Federica, Origo & Laura, Pagani, 2017. "Where Women Make The Difference. The Effects of Corporate Board Gender Quotas on Firms’ Performance across Europe," Working Papers 367, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 12 Jul 2017.
    13. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    14. Mobbs, Shawn & Tan, Yongxian & Zhang, Shage, 2021. "Female directors: Why are some less informed than others?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Francesco Devicienti & Elena Grinza & Alessandro Manello & Davide Vannoni, 2016. "Which Are the Benefits of Having more Female Leaders? Evidence from the Use of Part-Time Work in Italy," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 489, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    16. Simona Comi & Mara Grasseni & Federica Origo & Laura Pagani, 2020. "Where Women Make a Difference: Gender Quotas and Firms’ Performance in Three European Countries," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 768-793, May.
    17. Karavitis, Panagiotis & Kokas, Sotirios & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2021. "Gender board diversity and the cost of bank loans," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. B. Espen Eckbo & Knut Nygaard & Karin S. Thorburn, 2016. "Does Gender-Balancing the Board Reduce Firm Value?," Working Papers 201602, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo Business School.
    19. Mohsni, Sana & Otchere, Isaac & Shahriar, Saquib, 2021. "Board gender diversity, firm performance and risk-taking in developing countries: The moderating effect of culture," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    20. Pipke, David & Pönitzsch, Gert, 2015. "Effekte der Frauenquote in Aufsichtsräten: Ein Ausblick für Deutschland," Kiel Policy Brief 93, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender quotas; boards of directors; firm performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:2018:n:7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.