Welcome on board: A note on gender quotas regulation in Europe

• Published in: Economics letters 2020-05, Vol.190, p.109055, Article 109055
• Main Authors: Bennouri, Moez, De Amicis, Chiara, Falconieri, Sonia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Board quality; Boards of directors; Business and professional women; Corporate boards; Gender; Gender differences; Gender equity; Gender quotas; Mandatory; Qualifications; Quotas; Regulation; Women
• ISSN: 0165-1765; 1873-7374
• DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109055

Using a diff-in-diff approach, we compare the impact on board and directors’ characteristics of mandatory vs advisory regulations on gender quotas in corporate boards. We focus on the experience of three European countries: France and Italy (mandatory regime) vs UK (advisory regime). Our results show that while the percentage of Women on Boards (WoB) generally increases after the introduction of the regulation, this effect is stronger in mandatory regimes. We also find that the quality of the board, measured by several indicators such as size, busyness, qualifications, independence, generally improves more in mandatory regimes. Finally, we also document that gender quotas have had no effect on the likelihood of appointing female executives and board chairwomen in either regime •Using a sample of British, French and Italian listed companies over the period 2004–2017 we assess the impact of different regulation on gender quotas in corporate boards.•We show that countries (France and Italy) where quotas have been mandated have experienced more significant changes than countries (UK) where the quotas are only advisory.•Gender quotas do not seem to have had an impact on the probability of appointing a female CEO.