Women directors and E&S performance: Evidence from board gender quotas

Edith Ginglinger and Caroline Raskopf

Journal of Corporate Finance, 2023, vol. 83, issue C

Abstract: Using the natural experiment created by France's 2011 board gender quota law, we find that the presence of women on boards increases firms' environmental and social (E&S) performance. After the quota law, firms are more likely to create an E&S committee, and women directors are increasingly serving as members of the main board committees and as chairs of E&S committees. We find that prior to being recruited to boards, women directors have more environmental and social experience than men. Combined with their increased authority after the introduction of quotas, their E&S skills allow them to steer companies toward more E&S-oriented policies.

Keywords: Board of directors; Gender quotas; Gender diversity; Critical mass theory; Board committees; Environmental and social committee; Environmental and social performance; Corporate social responsibility (CSR); Director skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G34 G38 J16 K38 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:corfin:v:83:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923001451

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102496

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