The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Board Gender Diversity

By Shibashish Mukherjee and Sorin M.S. Krammer August 2, 2024 by renholding

The 2008-2009 global financial crisis (GFC) has cast a pall over several corporate governance mechanisms in many firms worldwide. Nonetheless, how the firms treated their female directors in the aftermath and whether they maintained gender diversity on their boards remain …

The Uncertain Role of Institutional Investors in Promoting Corporate Diversity

By Jill E. Fisch May 2, 2023 by renholding

On March 7, 2017, the eve of International Women’s Day, State Street Global Advisors initiated its “Fearless Girl” campaign, an effort to increase the number of female directors on the boards of its portfolio companies.[1]According to State Street, …

How Board Gender Quotas Affect Stock Prices

By Carlos Fernandez and Shams Pathan December 1, 2022 by renholding

Women have traditionally suffered from discrimination in the labor market (Tatli et al., 2013) and are under-represented in upper management (Thams, Bendell and Terjesen, 2018). To address this widespread gender imbalance, many countries have implemented gender diversity policies ranging from …

Does Mandatory Board Gender Balancing Reduce Firm Value?

By B. Espen Eckbo, Knut Nygaard and Karin S. Thorburn June 13, 2022 by renholding

As a social-policy instrument, forced board-gender balancing is in principle unrelated to firms’ economic performance. Nonetheless, imposing such a policy may have unintended consequences (positive or negative) for firm value, which is important for all of a firm’s constituencies – …

ISS Discusses Women on California Boards

By Paul Hodgson March 15, 2022 by renholding

Since 1995, US presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating March as Women’s History Month to celebrate the contributions women have made to the US and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American

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Gender Gap at the Top: New Evidence on Policy Effectiveness

By Swarnodeep Homroy and Shibashish Mukherjee October 30, 2020 by renholding

The persistent gender gap in corporate leadership has led several European countries to institute board-related policies such as gender quotas, starting with Norway in 2003. Recently, California became the first U.S. state to follow suit, with many more considering similar …

How Public Attention to Gender Equality Affects the Demand for Female Directors

By Mariassunta Giannetti and Tracy Wang April 24, 2019 by renholding

Women are starkly underrepresented on corporate boards and more generally in leadership positions. Hillary Clinton’s U.S. presidential campaign and movements like #MeToo have recently attracted lots of attention to gender equality issues. As a result, biases, stereotypes, and female under-representation …

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