Zhe WANG, PhD

School of Humanities, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China; graduated from School of Law in 2020, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, major in corporate law (LLM).

DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i4-14

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ABSTRACT

In recent decades, the position of females in the boardroom has received increasing attention worldwide. It is argued that improving gender diversity in the boardroom as female directors can benefit corporate management in many ways. On the one hand, they have distinct characteristics which could make up for the shortcomings of male directors. On the other hand, females show different governance behaviours, and they can bring new ideas to corporate boards. In order to respond to social concern about gender equality in the boardroom and to encourage more females to contribute to corporate management, countries across the world have taken measures to improve the proportion of female directors on corporate boards in recent years. Worldwide, two main approaches can be seen. Some countries impose quota laws to promote gender diversity in the boardroom, while others adopt a voluntary approach. This essay will discuss development of both the quota approach and the voluntary approach and will then analyse their advantages and disadvantages, in order to illustrate their influence on improving gender diversity in the boardroom and to come up with some solutions for addressing the shortcomings of these approaches. Female directors are expected to have more opportunities to contribute professionally and meaningfully to corporate governance.

KEYWORDS:

corporate law; corporate governance; proportion of females in the boardroom; quota approach; voluntary approach

REFERENCES

PRIMARY SOURCES
LEGISLATION:
1) Companies Act 2006

2) UK Corporate Governance Code 2018 SECONDARY SOURCES BOOKS

1) Dhir A, ‘Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Corporate Law, Governance, and Diversity’ (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

2) Durbin A, ‘Optimizing Board Effectiveness with Gender Diversity: Are Quotas the Answer?’ (World Bank Press, Washington D.C., 2011)

3) Clarke T and Branson D M, ‘The SAGE handbook of corporate governance’ (SAGE Publications, 2012)

JOURNAL ARTICLES
1) Adams R and Ferreira D, ‘Women in the Boardroom and their Impact on Governance and Performance’ (2009) 94 Journal of Financial Economics 291-309

2) Anon, ‘Board diversity – Math or Merit?: Should Gender Equality Depend on Quotas?’ (2013) 29 Strategic Direction 6-9

3) Choudhury B, ‘New Rationales for Women on Boards’ (2014) 34 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 511-542

4) Grosvold J, Brammer S and Rayton B, ‘Board Diversity in the United Kingdom and Norway: An Exploratory Analysis’ (2007) 16 Business Ethics: A European Review 344-357

5) Reguera-Alvarado N, Fuentes P and Laffarga J, ‘Does Board Gender Diversity Influence Financial Performance? Evidence from Spain’ (2017) 141 Journal of Business Ethics 337-350

ONLINE JOURNALS
Sule A, ‘Board Diversity Push Leaves Out Women of Colour’ (The Financial Times, 09 January 2019) Accessed 09 January 2019

REPORTS
1) Deloitte China Center for Corporate Governance, ‘Women in the Boardroom 2019’ (2019)

2) Hampton-Alexander Review, ‘FTSE Women Leaders: Improving gender balance in FTSE Leadership’ (2019)

VOlUME 06 ISSUE 04 APRIL 2023