Gender-Balanced Seats, Equal Power and Greater Gender Equality? Zooming into the Boardroom of Companies Bound by the Portuguese Gender Quota Law

Sara Falcão Casaca (), Susana Ramalho Marques, Maria João Guedes () and Cathrine Seierstad
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Sara Falcão Casaca: Research Centre in Economic and Organisational Sociology/CSG–Research in Social Sciences and Management, Lisbon School of Economics & Management (ISEG), SOCIUS, Universidade de Lisboa, 1249-078 Lisbon, Portugal
Susana Ramalho Marques: Research Centre in Economic and Organisational Sociology/CSG–Research in Social Sciences and Management, Lisbon School of Economics & Management (ISEG), SOCIUS, Universidade de Lisboa, 1249-078 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria João Guedes: Centre for Advanced Research in Management/CSG–Research in Social Sciences and Management, Lisbon School of Economics & Management (ISEG), ADVANCE, Universidade de Lisboa, 1249-078 Lisbon, Portugal
Cathrine Seierstad: School of Business, Department of Business, History and Social Sciences, University of South-Eastern Norway, 3184 Borre, Norway

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: This paper seeks to analyse the potential for change in the gender quota law on corporate boards in Portugal. This is achieved by incorporating concepts and insights drawn from political science and the study of quotas in politics and adjusting these to the boardroom context. It adds to the literature on women on boards by shedding light on the importance of looking at descriptive representation, substantive representation, substantive equality and transformative institutional change, in order to understand a quota law’s potential for eliciting gender balance in the boardroom, as well as greater gender equality in directorship positions, in board dynamics and at the workplace level. This study uses multi-strategy research methods. Evidence provided by the quantitative analysis of survey data, combined with the qualitative analysis of interviews undertaken with female and male board members and the contents of Gender Equality Action Plans (GEAPs), shows that there have been some changes in terms of descriptive representation, but fewer in relation to substantive equality, as men are still largely over-represented in positions associated with effective power and influence over decision-making. Moreover, although the promotion of gender equality at the workplace is valued by both groups, and particularly so by women, weaknesses have been found in the materialisation of such a commitment (substantive representation) through the adoption of GEAPs designed to tackle gendered patterns at the workplace (transformative institutional change).

Keywords: gender; women on boards; descriptive representation; substantive representation; substantive equality; transformative institutional change; gender mainstreaming; quota law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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