Corporate Board Quotas and Workplace Policies

• In Event: Quotas Beyond Numbers: The Impact of Gender Quotas in Politics and the Workplace

Abstract

In light of the growing phenomenon of gender quotas for corporate boards, existing research has examined the link between quotas, financial performance, and women's promotion to other high-level positions in the company. This paper complements that literature by exploring the effects of corporate board quotas on workplace policies related to closing gender gaps in pay and promotion, and work-family balance. Drawing on literature from gender quota laws in politics, we suggest that after a quota law companies are likely to increase attention to women's policy concerns. We focus on the case of Italy, where a corporate board quota passed in 2011 increased the share of women on boards from 5% to 30% in the space of only five years. Statistical matching is used to select a similar counterfactual country (where no corporate board quota was adopted) -- Greece. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we then analyze annual reports of publicly listed companies in both countries before and after a quota was passed in Italy to investigate the impact of the quota on policies.

Authors

• Ana Catalano Weeks, University of Bath

• Audrey Latura, Harvard University