Exploring the Nexus among Board Gender Diversity, Women Empowerment, and Social Welfare: Evidence from India

The theory and existing literature suggest multiple advantages of gender diverse boards including active engagement of women directors towards social welfare. Yet, the representation of women directors in the board is not significant. Hence, the purpose of the study is to examine: the relationship between board gender diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance; and the nexus between board gender diversity, CSR, and women empowerment. On a panel of 390 firms year observation for 10 years from Nifty Fifty index of NSE, OLS, Fixed Effect, and Random Effect regression estimators are employed in the study. The study revealed, proportion of female directors on the board have a negative relation with CSR. While, presence of independent women director on board, and their involvement in board committees have a positive relation with the CSR. However, the relationships are found to be insignificant. Which could be attributed to the fact that female directors not attaining critical mass in the board. The study suggests that the gender diverse boards tend to empower women through the CSR initiatives. Also, to avail optimum benefits of gender diverse board, corporations should aim at achieving critical mass of women on board, and facilitate their active involvement in the board processes through their involvement in the various board committees.