Gender Quota inside the Boardroom: Female Directors as New Key Players?
Résumé
This paper examines whether women’s situation within French boards has improved following the
adoption of a board-level gender quota in 2011. To do so, we focus on the individual role of female
directors as proxied by their fees. Our sample includes the listed companies belonging to the SBF120
index over the 2006-2014 period. We first show that the quota has succeeded in opening the doors of
boardrooms to new, unseasoned female directors (not present on the director labor market before the
regulation). These unseasoned female directors have distinctive characteristics (in terms of independence,
experience, age, nationality, etc.) as compared to other board members. More importantly, we
show that women, whether unseasoned or seasoned, experience an inner glass ceiling, with “positional”
gender segregation within French boards. In particular, companies have failed so far to open the access
of the most important board committees (namely monitoring committees: audit, compensation and
nomination) to women. It results in a within-firm gender fees gap of 5%. Overall, the quota has rather
amplified this segregation process, with an increase in the average within-firm gender fees gap.
Domaines
Economies et finances
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)