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Highlights the historical set‐up of Canadian boards of directors, why and how women were first appointed to corporate boards. Examines factors related to women serving on corporate boards, detailing advantages and barriers to the appointments. Reports on a survey of Canadian Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) which considers factors related to the appointment of women to corporate boards. Results indicated the CEOs′ opinions on, for example, how important a variety of qualifications is to the appointment of female directors; the women with difficulties in finding women with these qualifications; preferred candidate profiles; issues which would benefit from a female perspective; effects of women on boards and companies; and the question of why there are not more women directors. Finally, with the survey as a background, looks at why there are so few women on the boards of directors of Canadian private sector organizations; and the future prospects of women as board members.

There is a large literature advocating the importance of a greater proportion of women directors on boards of publicly listed firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine the numbers and proportions of women directors, including women executive directors, on listed Australian Real Estate Management and Development (REMD) companies to identify how prevalent women directors are on such boards.

The study examines the numbers and proportions of women directors for 35 REMDs in 2011 and compares this to the broad board composition data on 1,715 Australian Stock Exchange listed entities. Statistically significant findings are evident due to the identified low proportions.

The study finds that of all the Financials Sub Industry sector groups, REMDs have the lowest proportion of female directors on theirs boards – eight women on each of 35 company boards compared to 159 men on these 35 boards at 2011. Of the eight, there were only two women executive directors on boards compared to 50 men. Statistically, it appears that having women directors on REMD boards is not considered important. Even at December 2014, there are only ten women on seven company boards and only one remaining executive director of an REMD company.

Given that female board representation is positively related to accounting returns and that there is a growing voice for legislation to impose mandatory proportions of women directors on boards around the world, it may be in the interests of REMD boards to consider appointing more women more quickly.

The study is the first to examine the numbers and proportions of women directors amongst REMD companies to identify the paucity of such women directors.

In this chapter, we have analysed the relationship between the proportion of women on board of directors and firm performance in Norway and Denmark. These countries are, in an international context, considered similar in many respects. However, during 2002–2007, the two countries experienced quite different developments regarding the gender diversity on companies' boards, caused by the Norwegian board reform affecting public limited firms. These changes increase the relevancy for analysing and comparing the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance in the two countries. The results for Denmark reveal no significant relationships between the proportion of women on boards and firm performance. As there was no quota policy in place in Denmark in this period, the proportion of women on boards has been quite constant. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that we observe no significant relationships. The results for Norway reveal first a positive relationship between the proportion of women on boards of directors and firm performance. This relationship does hold after controlling for a wide set of firm characteristics. Can this be explained by the quota? No, our robustness analyses suggest not. The results indicate that the short-term relationship between gender diversity and firm performance is negligible. Neither for public limited firms nor for limited firms, can firm performance during this period really be attributed to women on boards. Thus, from a gender equalisation point of view, it appears that one has achieved increased gender diversity on Norwegian boards, without affecting firm performance.

This chapter aims to evaluate the relationship between the representation of women on corporate boards of directors and its impact on firm financial performance.

This study utilized both a systematic review and a meta-analysis, using a sample of 40 published studies, which gleaned financial indicator and observation data from 28 different countries.

As indicated in previous studies, while positive, there was no significant correlation found between the number of women serving on the boards of directors and firm financial performance.

The heterogeneity between the various studies analyzed may present difficulties in making general conclusions. The chapter could also be subject to publication bias, as the selection criteria included may indicate a need for further peer review. Future meta-analyses should include data associated with other financial indicators.

This study shows how composition ratios of men/women serving on corporate boards should be addressed in terms of proving for a greater diversity of leadership perspectives.

Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have analyzed country environments as moderators for the relationship between the representation of women on corporate boards and firm financial performance. The present study evaluates possible differences between the impact of the number of women serving on the board of directors on a variety of financial indicators (ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s Q).

We enjoin stakeholder theory, radical-cultural feminist theory, and critical race theory with critical intersectionality to critique findings which suggest that there still are significantly more men than women on nearly every Fortune 500 board of directors, with only six corporations featuring (50-50%) gender equity in 2017. Also, only 4.1% board members are women of color and 9% are men of color. Sixty-five people of color on corporate boards serve on more than one board. This means there are even fewer people of color filling top corporate leadership positions than meets the eye. The proposed alternative course of action is for boards of directors to follow the example of the small handful of peer Fortune 500 corporations that have achieved greater levels of board diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This paper examines the relationship between women on boards and board monitoring tasks depending on group categories identified in the Kanter's theory.

Using a sample of the largest listed companies in Spain, Italy and France during the period 2007–2017, this study tests the effect of women's presence based on the following board categories: (1) skewed boards with a percentage of women that is less than 20%; (2) tilted boards with a percentage of women that ranges from 20% to 33%; (3) tilted boards with a percentage of women that is more than 33%; and (4) balanced boards with an equal or quasi-equal gender distribution. The authors use the case of the gender board quota regulation in different European Union countries.

The results suggest that tilted boards engage in stronger firm monitoring and that the effect of women on board monitoring tasks is positive and statistically significant when the percentage of female directors reaches the threshold of 33%.

The outcomes of this study help policymakers identify the minimum threshold that quota regulations should mandate in order for boards to be effective.

This paper moves forward the ongoing debate about the effect of women on corporate boards, shifting the focus from the ratio or presence of female directors to the size of the group they form within the board. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to test Kanter's theory by investigating the relationship between women on boards and board monitoring.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of women directors on US Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) value and performance.

Archival financial and board of director data for the 1999–2019 period are collected and analyzed using panel data regression analysis.

The main findings indicate that women directors’ presence renders a modest positive effect on REIT performance but only when they reach critical mass on REIT boards; and that women directors have no effect at all on REIT value. Additional findings indicate that women directors are more common on REIT boards after the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act but less common on boards in which the REIT founder is the chief executive officer.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first research on the effect of a gender diverse board on REIT value. It is also the first paper documenting a positive relationship between board gender diversity and REIT performance. This paper fills a research gap, as it is one of the few papers focused on gender diversity within the REITs board composition literature.

Gender diversity is extensively debated and researched in relation to corporate boards. The focus on the gender composition on single boards neglects an important issue: that of how the power of board members is impacted by their representation on other boards. Board interlocks refer to how a board member is also represented on other companies’ boards, and such representation expectedly makes the individual board member more influential in the boardroom than non-connected board members. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how female board interlocks are considered in previous research on gender diversity on boards.

A systematic literature review was conducted. It comprised 71 highly cited articles. The articles were analyzed to grasp their content, and specifically, female influence in the boardroom related to power.

The literature review reveals that the interlock perspective is rare in studies on women’s board representation. This is so, even while evidence is provided that females often need companions to get their meanings across on the boards, despite how interlocks would create one link of such power, and although the literature points to how female board representation plays a part to explain performance, social responsibilities and overall strategic directions of firms.

Contributions are made to previous research by indicating the potential of further research in a largely neglected area of research while also summarizing the previous reporting on women on boards.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the differences in men and women, such as risk aversion in decision making, can influence the amount of capital that the board of directors can allocate for investment opportunities.

This study sampled 212 IPOs over the period of 2005–2015 and employed the OLS and the quantile regression techniques to examine the impact of female directors on capital allocation.

The results show that women on corporate boards have a positive influence on the amount of capital an IPO company can allocate for investment opportunities. These findings suggest that the investment strategies of women in an emerging financial market, like Malaysia, may differ from women in other financial markets.

The presence of women on corporate boards plays an important role in board involvement in a company’s strategic decision at the time of the IPO. Therefore, regulators and IPO issuers should pay close attention to the corporate governance structure of a company at the time of an IPO. In addition, investors and other stakeholders of a company may consider women on corporate boards as an important factor in financing and investment decisions.

Despite several studies that have examined the influence of women on corporate boards on corporate outcomes, globally, the presence of women on corporate boards and their influence on corporate decision-making related to allocation of capital to investment opportunities, have not been fully explored in the IPO literature.

Through an analysis of 15 Latin American countries, the purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of several institutional variables (economic, regulatory, and cultural), which affect women’s careers towards being members of boards of directors in the region.

Based on primary and secondary information, the authors carry out multivariate analyses to understand the institutional reasons affecting the reduced presence of women on boards of directors in the region.

Their findings reveal differences within the region, the importance of protecting women’s professional careers in the labour market, and the effect of cultural dimensions, such as masculinity and power distance.

The analysis provides an updated cross-section of the institutional and cultural conditions of the 15 countries, considering the limitations to developing data in the region.

Latin America has witnessed important changes in the dynamics of the labour market over recent decades: women’s participation in the labour force is on the increase, and corporate strategy is evolving towards the incorporation of practices and initiatives to manage the diversity of their talents. However, the presence of women in leadership positions is a pending subject. This study, in part, reveals the institutional origin of gender inequality on boards of directors in the region. The analysis provides essential tools for public policy and for companies to help promote female leadership in the region.

Recent debate and research on the scarce participation of women on corporative boards of directors have revealed a growing interest in analysing the causes of such issues despite the progress recorded in terms of gender equity in most societies. Studies on the topic in Latin America are scarce and the aim of this paper is to help to fill part of this gap.

El presente trabajo explora en quince países de América Latina la importancia de distintas variables institucionales (económicas regulatorias y culturales) que afectan a las carreras de las mujeres hacia los consejos de administración en la región.

A partir de información primaria y secundaria, los autores desarrollan diversos análisis multivariantes para entender las razones institucionales que afectan tras la reducida presencia de mujeres en los consejos de la región.

Los resultados de los análisis realizados muestran las diferencias dentro de la región así como la importancia de de analizar las carreras profesionales de las mujeres en el mercado de trabajo y el efecto de las dimensiones culturales como la masculinidad y la distancia al poder.

El análisis muestra un corte transversal de la realidad institutional y cultural de los 15 países lo más actual posible, teniendo en cuenta las limitaciones en el desarrollo de datos en la región.

En América Latina, se han producido cambios importantes en la dinámica del mercado laboral en las últimas décadas: las tasas de participación de mujeres en la fuerza de trabajo están en aumento y las estrategias empresariales van evolucionando hacia la incorporación de prácticas e iniciativas que tienden a gestionar la diversidad de sus talentos. Sin embargo la presencia de mujeres en puestos de liderazgo empresarial es una asignatura pendiente. El presente trabajo muestra en parte el origen institucional de las desigualdades de género en los consejos de administración en la región. Este análisis provee de herramientas esenciales para la política púlica y las empresas en la búsqueda de la promoción del liderazgo femenino en la región.

Recientes debates e investigaciones sobre la escasa incorporación de mujeres en los consejos directivos en las corporaciones, han evidenciado el creciente interés por analizar las causas de estas cuestiones a pesar de los avances registrados en términos de equidad de género en la mayoría de las sociedades. Sin embargo, hay una escasez de estudios en esta área en América Latina. El presente artículo busca llenar en parte ese hueco.