Année
2014
Abstract
This study offers Executives and Policy Makers a thorough analysis of the most current data from international organizations and consulting firms, as well empirical evidence from interviews of fifty executive women who hold mandates on Boards around the globe, on the increasing economic importance of greater gender diversity on Boards. A discussion of the various feasible “strategies” currently being proposed and adopted by different countries and other concerned parties and organizations to increase female Board representation suggests that progress is in sight, but that there are many obstacles to be remedied if women are to be a real engine for a more effective Corporate Governance of Boards. The study provides empirical support that women must be encouraged to bring, in terms of skills and behaviors, a difference to the table if “gender diversity” measures are to have positive and genuine change in the exercise of effective Corporate Governance practices internationally. The study highlights that current and potential female candidates share a rigorous vision of the functioning of Boards and therefore demand a new model of governance based on sustainability, which integrates both masculine and feminine “polarities” within companies and organizations.
DE BEAUFORT, V. et SUMMERS, L. (2014). Women on Boards: Sharing a Rigorous Vision of the Functioning of Boards, Demanding a New Model of Corporate Governance. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 4(1), pp. 101–140.