Appointments to Central Bank Boards: Does Gender Matter?

Abstract

This paper provides the first systematic analysis of the evolution of female and male appointments to central bank boards. We build a novel and unique dataset that tracks appointments and replacements in a balanced panel of 26 OECD central bank boards from 2003 to 2015. We find that the likelihood of appointing a female is higher when a female rather than a male is being replaced and lower when the percentage of women on the board is already high.

Keywords: Boards, Central Banks, Financial Crisis, Gender, Governance

JEL Classification: E5, G2, G3, J16