CEOs and board composition: can the lack of identification be a reason for glass ceilings in Brazil?

The significant growth of female labor market participation did not resolve the gender-related differences concerning wages and promotion. According to the family division of work theory, a comparative advantage between the couple would determine the home and market division of work (Becker, 1965). The wage gap and promotion rates differential could imply less investment by women in their professional background. In the present work, we use a unique dataset of 370 companies that enable the testing of the glass ceiling phenomenon for women in Brazil. Using the empirical probit methodology that enables a qualitative binary analysis of the major occupation of men or women in the companies, the main conclusion of this study is related to the complexity of female promotion if there is a Board of Administration at the company level. Following the analysis of Westphal and Fredrickson (2001), our results show that the Board usually chooses a CEO that better represents its own profile and, being mostly composed of males, there is greater resistance to female promotion.