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The corporate communications literature recently raised the question, “Board gender diversity and women in leadership positions – are quotas the solution?” This paper extends the debate by asking, “What is an equitable target percentage for women on corporate boards?”

The paper explores and gives a conceptualised viewpoint on the issues expressed in the literature concerning the meaning of board gender equality, focussing on what is regarded as an equitable number of women on corporate boards.

The arguments and questions raised in this paper highlight the difficulty in answering the research question. The question will only be answered when it no longer needs to be raised. In other words, when gender equality is no longer seen as an issue and men and women are treated equally, when qualifications, experience and ability are the key issues on board selection, not gender. Highlighting gender inequality issues by setting target figures may in itself deter some women from seeking board-level promotion. The target should not just be to place women in what is currently a masculinised board culture but to change this culture to reflect non-masculinity.

This paper can guide practitioners in their policy-making decisions on corporate board gender diversity and refocus the minds of academics on such an important issue. It should also help change the hegemonic understanding of leadership and thus influence recruitment policy.

This is believed to be the first paper to give a conceptualised viewpoint on the issue of targets concerning the number of women on corporate boards and brings into perspective the wide variation highlighted in the literature. It adds to the current debate on board gender diversity and the lack of women on corporate boards by highlighting the questions regarding gender targets. A research opportunity lies in exploring this paper's conceptual issues and questions by soliciting the views of male and female management students and corporate directors.

This paper aims to seek the perceptions of potential future corporate managers and directors on the issues raised in the literature, especially recent articles in the corporate communications literature, concerning corporate board gender quotas. It focusses on the Czech Republic, where research on board gender diversity is sparse.

The study is part of much more comprehensive research into board gender diversity. It adopts a questionnaire approach, with this paper focussing on 13 research statements. A Likert Scale of 1–4 (Strongly Agree; Agree; Disagree; Strongly Disagree) was applied to the perceived views expressed. The questionnaires were completed by university students at a public university in the Czech Republic during March–April 2023. A pilot questionnaire was conducted in February 2023, resulting in minor changes being made. The data is analysed using SPSS and MedCalc® statistical software.

There is overwhelming opposition to quotas, even from women. The opinions expressed by the respondents to this research, in many respects, support the literature, but there is unmistakable evidence of gender bias. Regarding the positive female benefits of quotas, male respondents disagreed; regarding the negative issues of quotas, male respondents agreed more than their female counterparts.

The research findings have important implications for how women recruited through quotas may be received onto corporate boards – what challenges will they likely face? Some current female candidates for directorship, who would have been selected on merit and perceived as such by their male counterparts, may now be hesitant to apply for such positions if they are seen as being appointed due to quotas. Therefore, the selection procedure must continue to be based on merit and seen as such.

One of the important aspects of the paper is that it focusses on a country that has, until recently, resisted pressures to implement mandatory corporate board gender quotas; in this respect, it has a corpus of originality and value. The Czech Republic and other European countries will also be affected by the recent EU law on gender balance or corporate boards. The paper also highlights the perceptions of potential future directors on various issues of board gender quotas.

This study aims to examine whether a change in the regulatory requirement toward gender quota for corporate leadership significantly affects the demand and therefore, it increases the presence of women directors and women CEOs. Examining the supply-side, the study also examines whether the supply for women directors and women CEOs based on the presence of qualified women who currently hold upper, middle, or lower management positions is positively related with the presence of women directors and women CEOs. Furthermore, based on the critical mass hypothesis, this study examines whether the presence of women CEOs and critical mass for women directors bring significant impacts on firms' financial and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance during the subsequent period.

Using the multivariate regression analysis, this study empirically examines the impact of the shift in the demand for women directors and CEOs from the enactment of the Greek Law 4403/2016 on gender quota for corporate leadership. This study also examines the impact of the supply for women in corporate leadership, measured by the percentage of women who hold upper, middle, or lower management positions, on the presence of women directors and CEOs. Then, this study examines the impact of women directors and women CEOs on firms' subsequent financial and ESG performance.

Based on a sample of 71 publicly listed Greek firms and 20 Cyprus listed firms as a control group during 2006–2019, the study finds evidence that both the supply-side and the demand-side bring positive effects on greater women participation in corporate boards. However, there is no evidence that the supply and demand affect the presence of women CEOs. The presence of women CEOs has a positive effect on ESG through environmental and social pillars. The study finds evidence to support the critical mass hypothesis that firms with three or more women boards tend to have higher financial and ESG performance.

Understanding the supply and demand for gender diversity in corporate leadership in countries that are considered as lagging is critical to foster the global objective to level the playing field for women to participate in corporate management leadership as important part the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) 5.5. The positive impact of women directors on corporate financial and social performance can be achieved, especially when the critical mass is reached. This highlights the importance of greater gender representations in corporate boards and top executive level in order to make a meaningful social change.

This study demonstrates that the supply of women who currently hold corporate management positions has positive influence on the presence of women boards. This study also demonstrates that a national legislation that promotes gender diversity for corporate board has a positive impact on board gender diversity among Greek listed firms. This study also highlights the importance of integrating the critical mass perspective in considering the impact of supply and demand for women in corporate leadership on firms' financial and ESG performance.

The corporate communications literature recently focused on corporate board gender diversity, specifically looking at two central aspects: gender quotas and equitable target percentages for women on corporate boards. This paper extends the debate by focusing on board gender diversity and critical mass theory.

The paper gives a conceptual viewpoint on the issues raised in the literature on board gender diversity through a critical mass theory lens.

Following the 2022 European Union (EU) directive, all EU member states will have to attain a 40% women representation on large corporate boards to achieve board gender diversity and what has been termed a “critical mass”. However, the literature indicates that gender diversity benefits may not be achieved if a critical mass is not composed of independent women directors who create a voice that produces a collective action. The authors highlight why a critical mass may not be achieved. The inconsistency in prior research linking corporate board gender diversity to economic performance may result from the critical mass of women directors not reflecting an independent collective action. However, as gender-diverse boards evolve, the authors argue that women will not just be seen as female directors but will be accepted on equal terms with their male counterparts and have an equal voice; gender will no longer be an issue and critical mass theory may then become irrelevant.

From a corporate communications perspective, this study will focus the minds of human resources (HR) professionals on the importance of the composition of women on corporate boards if the HR professionals wish to obtain the full potential benefits of board gender diversity. Theoretically, this study highlights the importance of critical mass and collective action when researching the economic benefits of corporate board gender diversity. Investment analysts may wish to look more closely at the structure of corporate boards and not just the numbers.

This paper gives a conceptual viewpoint on the critical mass theory and corporate board gender diversity, identifying that it is not just the numbers that are important but also the issue of minority independence and collective action, and this is, therefore, unique in this respect. Future research should identify if a critical mass (not just numbers) of women on corporate boards has been achieved. Only then that the linkage, based on critical mass theory, between board gender diversity and corporate performance/profitability can be made. Knowing whether board sizes are being increased to accommodate the added female directors would be also interesting, or will the new female directors replace existing male directors? However, the most important research question, once gender diversity has been achieved, could be: Is critical mass theory relevant with respect to board gender diversity?

This study aims to provide a valuable contribution by exploring the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax avoidance of Malaysian listed companies.

The study is based on a sample consisting of 78 Malaysian firms over the 2010–2017 period. A moderation model that specifies the interaction between CSR, women directors and corporate tax avoidance motivates this study.

The results show that a high level of CSR is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance in firms with a higher percentage of women on the board.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, it is interested in discovering the dynamic relation between CSR, woman on the board and tax avoidance. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces the corporate tax avoidance. For regulators, the results advise the worldwide policy maker to give the importance of female roles to improve the engagement firms in CSR reporting.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between CSR and corporate tax avoidance in the Malaysian context.

This paper aims to shed light on an essential role that “female directors” on boards of companies in sub-Saharan Africa play towards corporate financial performance enhancement. The study observes how board gender diversity moderates the relationship between earnings management (EM) and financial performance of firms in sub-Saharan Africa from a dynamic perspective.

The study’s sample comprises 105 companies listed on the respective stock markets of nine sub-Saharan African countries. The data are collected from annual reports over the period 2007–2019, a total of 1,166 firm-year observations. Panel data models are used in the analyses.

The study finds that the performance effect of EM is contingent on board diversity and this finding persists even after controlling for dynamic endogeneity, simultaneity and unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity inherent in the EM and performance relationship.

The findings should be understood within the context that, only available annual reports and audited financial statements that were filed with respective capital markets of the nine surveyed countries are used as source of information.

The current study is unique, in that, it is the first panel multi-cross-country investigation within Africa to introduce gender diversity in the study of the relationship between EM and firm performance. It therefore extends the agency theory by using gender diversity as a moderating variable in the EM–firm performance nexus.

This paper examines contextual factors that affect the association between board gender diversity and firm performance.

The authors use a global sample of listed firms in the tourism industry in 30 countries from 2015 to 2020.

First, firm performance is positively associated with the proportion of female directors on a board. Second, the positive association between firm performance and the proportion of female directors on the board is higher in (1) countries with stronger shareholder rights, (2) countries with stronger securities law regulation stipulating disclosure of board diversity, (3) countries with stronger economic empowerment of women, and (4) during the COVID-19 crisis. Third, corporate financial distress risk is lower in firms with higher proportion of female directors on the board. Fourth, the negative association between corporate financial distress risk and the proportion of female directors on the board is more pronounced in (1) countries with stronger securities law regulations stipulating disclosure of board gender diversity, (2) countries with stronger economic empowerment of women, and (3) during the COVID-19 crisis.

The results indicate that contextual factors (comprising country-level corporate governance structures, economic empowerment of women and economic crisis) can affect the association between board gender diversity and firm performance.

This paper aims to examine the effect of critical mass of women managers on corporate boards on the voluntary disclosure of climate change in a developing country in which the regulations on climate change disclosure is an area of growing research interest.

This study uses logistic panel regression models with a sample of 1,001 firm-years for companies in the Borsa Istanbul 100 Index that were asked to disclose voluntary climate change indicators over the seven-year period from 2014 to 2020 through the Carbon Disclosure Project.

This paper provides evidence from an emerging country that the critical mass of women on the board has no impact on voluntary climate change disclosure. In addition, the presence of independent managers on the board was found to have a significant impact on climate change disclosure. In addition, the results show that larger companies are more likely to report their climate change activities. Large companies are more visible due to their size, are perceived by stakeholders as more polluting and are, therefore, more likely to report on the environment.

The results show that the critical mass of women on the board has no effect on voluntary disclosure of climate change. Empirical tests are still needed to strengthen the overall validity of the critical mass of at least three women on boards in Türkiye.

Despite many valuable insights provided by critical mass theory, very few studies directly address critical mass and voluntary disclosure of climate change. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical and comprehensive paper in the Turkish context evaluating critical masses and voluntary corporate climate change giving a comparison between firms listed on financial industry and nonfinancial industry.

Situated in the context of India, where women’s representation on corporate boards remains low, this study aims to explore whether and how tokenism impacts the behaviours of female directors.

The boardroom experiences and perceptions of 14 women directors are explored through semi-structured interviews and analysed using an inductive and interpretive process. Also, to get a counter perspective and avoid the social desirability bias from the women participants’ responses, 16 men directors are interviewed.

The study finds that, as gender minorities, women directors' visibility on boards can create performance pressures on these women. To counter gender-based prejudices, women directors consciously alter their behaviours and project both male and female traits consistent with the director role. By doing so, women directors overcome tokenistic stereotypes and are accepted as part of the director in-group, irrespective of their numeric representation on the board.

The research has implications for governments attempting to increase women’s board presence through affirmative actions and for firms aiming to improve the gender diversity of their board composition.

These findings present an alternative perspective on women directors’ board behaviour by exploring the applicability of Western trends on tokenism and critical mass in the context of India, adding to the vast body of literature concerned with minorities on corporate boards.

The aim of our study is to explore the nexus between the gender composition of board and firm financial performance. We use the data of 114 listed banks from 10 Asian emerging economies. Data were extracted from the DataStream for the year 2012–2021. We apply fixed effect model to analyze the data. In addition, we use generalized method of moments (GMM) to verify our main findings. We find that both proxies of board gender composition which are the proportion of female board members and the percentage of female executives on the board have a significant impact on banks' financial performance. Findings suggest that female representation on board provides more insights of monitoring and optimal advisory capabilities and, therefore, gender-diversified board enhances firm performance. Females are more active in business matters and take more interests to fulfill their responsibilities. The results of our study provide useful signals for corporate and regulatory policymakers. Board gender disparities between enterprises should be better understood by all stakeholders to have the optimal combination of board members that ultimately lead to better performance of the firm.