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Women’s Roles on U.S. Fortune 500 Boards: Director Expertise and Committee Memberships

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  • Craig Peterson
  • James Philpot

Abstract

This study examines the presence and roles of female directors of U.S. Fortune 500 firms, focusing on committee assignments and director background. Prior work from almost two decades ago concludes that there is a systematic bias against females in assignment to top board committees. Examining a recent data set with a logistic regression model that controls for director and firm characteristics, director resource-dependence roles and interaction between director gender and director characteristics, we find that female directors are less likely than male directors to sit on executive committees and more likely than male directors to sit on public affairs committees. There is little if any evidence of systematic gender bias in director assignment to other board committees. We find some evidence that boards evaluate resource dependence differently for women than men. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Craig Peterson & James Philpot, 2007. "Women’s Roles on U.S. Fortune 500 Boards: Director Expertise and Committee Memberships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 177-196, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:72:y:2007:i:2:p:177-196
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9164-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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