What Types of Companies Have Female and Foreign Directors?

This paper analyzes the determinants of the presence and the number of female and foreign directors among Japanese companies. First, listed and long-established companies, subsidiaries, and unionized companies tend not to have female directors. On the other hand, owner-managed companies are likely to have female directors and chief executive officers (CEOs). Company size and foreign shareholdings do not have significant relationships with the presence of female directors. Second, while some past studies in the United States and European countries find evidence of “tokenism,” whereby female-led companies do not appoint additional females as directors, we do not find such evidence among Japanese companies. Third, while foreign-owned companies and companies engaged in overseas activities tend to have foreign directors, other company characteristics, such as size and listing status, do not have systematic relationships with the presence of foreign directors.