IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/hal-01618949.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Gender Quota and Inequalities inside the Boardroom

Author

Listed:
  • Antoine Rebérioux

    (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Gwenael Roudaut

    (X-DEP-ECO - Département d'Économie de l'École Polytechnique - X - École polytechnique)

Abstract

– This paper examines the evolution of within-board gender inequality following the adoption of a board-level gender quota for French listed companies in 2011. We show that the quota has succeeded in opening the doors of boardrooms to new, unseasoned women, who present distinctive characteristics. However, conditional on these characteristics, we provide evidence that female new comers are less likely that their male counterparts (both seasoned and new comers) to hold key positions within boards (namely, audit, compensation and nominating committee membership and chairing). This positional segregation is the main driver of a within-firm gender fees gap that amounts to 5.5% post-quota, as against 3.3% pre-quota.

Suggested Citation

  • Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenael Roudaut, 2017. "Gender Quota and Inequalities inside the Boardroom," Working Papers hal-01618949, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01618949
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://polytechnique.hal.science/hal-01618949
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://polytechnique.hal.science/hal-01618949/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiara Pronzato & Paola Profeta & Valeria Ferraro & Giulia Ferrari, 2016. "Gender Quotas: Challenging the Boards, Performance, and the Stock Market," Working Papers id:11411, eSocialSciences.
    2. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Ryan, Harley Jr. & Wiggins, Roy III, 2004. "Who is in whose pocket? Director compensation, board independence, and barriers to effective monitoring," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 497-524, September.
    5. Nina Smith, 2018. "Gender quotas on boards of directors," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    7. Harry J. Holzer & David Neumark, 2000. "What Does Affirmative Action Do?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(2), pages 240-271, January.
    8. Francis Kramarz & David Thesmar, 2013. "Social Networks In The Boardroom," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 780-807, August.
    9. Cavaco, Sandra & Crifo, Patricia & Rebérioux, Antoine & Roudaut, Gwenael, 2017. "Independent directors: Less informed but better selected than affiliated board members?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 106-121.
    10. Stark, Oded & Hyll, Walter, 2014. "Socially gainful gender quotas," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 173-177.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Ian Gregory‐Smith & Brian G.M. Main & Charles A. O'Reilly III, 2014. "Appointments, Pay and Performance in UK Boardrooms by Gender," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(574), pages 109-128, February.
    14. María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez & Inmaculada Bel-Oms, 2015. "The gender gap in pay in company boards," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(2), pages 467-510.
    15. 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.
    16. Linn, Scott C. & Park, Daniel, 2005. "Outside director compensation policy and the investment opportunity set," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 680-715, September.
    17. Heemskerk, Eelke Michiel & Fennema, Meindert, 2014. "Women on Board: Female Board Membership as a Form of Elite Democratization," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 252-284, June.
    18. Brick, Ivan E. & Palmon, Oded & Wald, John K., 2006. "CEO compensation, director compensation, and firm performance: Evidence of cronyism?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 403-423, June.
    19. Singh, Val & Terjesen, Siri & Vinnicombe, Susan, 2008. "Newly appointed directors in the boardroom:: How do women and men differ," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 48-58, February.
    20. Masulis, Ronald W. & Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei, 2012. "Globalizing the boardroom—The effects of foreign directors on corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 527-554.
    21. Francis Kramarz & David Thesmar, 2013. "Social Networks In The Boardroom," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 780-807, August.
    22. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    23. Bang Dang Nguyen, 2012. "Does the Rolodex Matter? Corporate Elite's Small World and the Effectiveness of Boards of Directors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 236-252, February.
    24. Ronald L. Oaxaca & Michael R. Ransom, 1999. "Identification in Detailed Wage Decompositions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 154-157, February.
    25. Nina Smith & Valdemar Smith & Mette Verner, 2013. "Why are So Few Females Promoted into CEO and Vice President Positions? Danish Empirical Evidence, 1997–2007," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(2), pages 380-408, April.
    26. Goh, Lisa & Gupta, Aditi, 2016. "Remuneration of non-executive directors: Evidence from the UK," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 379-399.
    27. Øyvind Bøhren & Siv Staubo, 2016. "Mandatory Gender Balance and Board Independence," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 22(1), pages 3-30, January.
    28. 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.
    29. Mallin, Chris & Melis, Andrea & Gaia, Silvia, 2015. "The remuneration of independent directors in the UK and Italy: An empirical analysis based on agency theory," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 175-186.
    30. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2008. "Do directors perform for pay?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 154-171, September.
    31. Nishant Dass & Omesh Kini & Vikram Nanda & Bunyamin Onal & Jun Wang, 2014. "Board Expertise: Do Directors from Related Industries Help Bridge the Information Gap?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(5), pages 1533-1592.
    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. Pierre Deschamps, 2018. "Gender Quotas in Hiring Committees: a Boon or a Bane for Women?," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03393117, HAL.
    2. Heike Mensi-Klarbach & Stephan Leixnering & Michael Schiffinger, 2021. "The Carrot or the Stick: Self-Regulation for Gender-Diverse Boards via Codes of Good Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 577-593, May.
    3. Pierre Deschamps, 2018. "Gender Quotas in Hiring Committees: a Boon or a Bane for Women?," Post-Print hal-03393117, HAL.
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7bucmgmilh9ul9ogmiku5legh5 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. 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.
    3. Goh, Lisa & Gupta, Aditi, 2016. "Remuneration of non-executive directors: Evidence from the UK," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 379-399.
    4. Bennouri, Moez & Chtioui, Tawhid & Nagati, Haithem & Nekhili, Mehdi, 2018. "Female board directorship and firm performance: What really matters?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 267-291.
    5. Cavaco, Sandra & Crifo, Patricia & Rebérioux, Antoine & Roudaut, Gwenael, 2017. "Independent directors: Less informed but better selected than affiliated board members?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 106-121.
    6. 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.
    7. HaiYan Yang & Daifei (Troy) Yao & Xin Qu, 2022. "How does independent directors’ reputation influence pay‐for‐performance? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 959-1007, March.
    8. Marisetty, Vijaya Bhaskar & Prasad, Salu, 2022. "On the side effects of mandatory gender diversity laws in corporate boards," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Sandra Cavaco & Patricia Crifo & Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenael Roudaut, 2014. "Independent directors: less informed, but better selected? New evidence from a two-way director-firm fixed effect model," Working Papers hal-04141284, HAL.
    10. Koray Aktaş & Valeria Gattai & Piergiovanna Natale, 2023. "Board gender quotas and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from France," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1291-1321, November.
    11. J. Yo-Jud Cheng & Boris Groysberg & Paul Healy & Rajesh Vijayaraghavan, 2021. "Directors’ Perceptions of Board Effectiveness and Internal Operations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6399-6420, October.
    12. Gattai, Valeria & Natale, Piergiovanna & Rossi, Francesca, 2023. "Board diversity and outward FDI: Evidence from europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    13. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    14. Etienne Redor, 2016. "Board attributes and shareholder wealth in mergers and acquisitions: a survey of the literature," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 20(4), pages 789-821, December.
    15. Alessandro Manello & Maurizio Cisi & Francesco Devicienti & Davide Vannoni, 2020. "Networking: a business for women," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 329-348, August.
    16. Nemmara K. Chidambaran & Yun Liu & Nagpurnanand Prabhala, 2022. "Director diversity and inclusion: At the table but in the game?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 193-225, March.
    17. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2016. "What types of companies have female directors? Evidence from Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 1-7.
    18. Paul B. McGuinness & João Paulo Vieito & Mingzhu Wang, 2020. "Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 719-762, September.
    19. Fedaseyeu, Viktar & Linck, James S. & Wagner, Hannes F., 2018. "Do qualifications matter? New evidence on board functions and director compensation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 816-839.
    20. Joanna Tyrowicz & Siri Terjesen & Jakub Mazurek, 2017. "All on board? New evidence on board gender diversity from a large panel of firms," GRAPE Working Papers 5, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender inequality; board gender quota; board committees; gender fees gap;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:wpaper:hal-01618949. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.