Board Gender Diversity and Workforce Composition, Compensation, and Retention for U.S. Publicly Traded Firms

Tanya Byker (), Sara Malik (), Elena Patel () and Jason Sandvik ()
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Tanya Byker: Middlebury College
Sara Malik: University of Utah
Elena Patel: University of Utah
Jason Sandvik: University of Arizona

No 18125, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We use administrative data from the U.S. Census to estimate the effect of female director representation on workplace gender diversity and women’s earnings. Using a difference-in-differences estimator that correctly accounts for variation in treatment timing, we show that first-time female director appointments lead to subsequent increases in workplace gender diversity. We find that the effects are driven by the improved retention of female workers in the middle and upper quartiles of the firm’s overall earnings distribution. We find suggestive evidence that the effects are due to the newly appointed female directors’ influence on corporate policy, as we observe stronger effects when the director is placed on one of the board’s three core committees.

Keywords: wage; directors; corporate board; women; committee (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J30 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-hrm and nep-lab
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