Goodbye to a Historical Exclusion? The Journey of the Female Corporate Elite over a Century in Spain (1917–2017)
Luis Chirosa Cañavate,
Josean Garrués-Irurzun and
Juan A. Rubio-Mondéjar
Enterprise & Society, 2025, vol. 26, issue 3, 879-907
Abstract:
Recently, women’s presence on top boards of directors has significantly increased, challenging the long standing of male-led corporate elites. In light of the still-developing literature, this article provides a century-long examination of women’s entry into the Spanish corporate elite, offering several original contributions. In addition to its pioneering input into the country’s historiography, the work uses a holistic model to introduce a comparative European approach. Moreover, it empirically examines the significant yet previously unexplored impact of elite training institutions on the advancement of female directors as well as their arrival through a national holding company and their presence in leading publicly traded companies. Findings showed four distinct stages in their trajectory: discriminatory exclusion, during the first third of the twentieth century; exceptional inclusion, with early positions in their family-owned firms; gradual incorporation, with increased political representation and expanded academic access in the latter decades of the last century; and promotion, supported by twenty-first-century political strategies, while still revealing the handicap of women’s delayed entry into the corporate network.
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:entsoc:v:26:y:2025:i:3:p:879-907_5
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