The Eco-Gender Gap in Boardrooms
79 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2022 Last revised: 22 Apr 2024
Po-Hsuan Hsu
National Tsing Hua University - Department of Quantitative Finance; National University of Singapore (NUS) - Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER)
Kai Li
University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business; Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER); China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN)
Yihui Pan
University of Utah - Department of Finance; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
Date Written: June 02, 2024
Abstract
To examine what women bring to the boardroom table, we first show a significant gender gap in viewing the tradeoff between environmental and economic benefits using the Gallup Poll. We next demonstrate that such a gender gap extends into boardrooms: Having female directors is associated with more environmentally friendly business operations, but also with higher investment in environmental protection at the same time. Results from an analysis using a California law change that imposed board gender quotas point to a potentially causal effect from female directors. Employing a rich set of director demographics and board characteristics, we show that none consistently supersedes the share of female directors in explaining corporate environmental performance, suggesting that female directors play a unique role in explaining firms’ investment in environmental protection.
Keywords: female directors, board diversity, corporate environmental performance, pollution prevention, emissions, diversity of thought JEL classification: G30, G38, G41 female directors, board diversity, corporate environmental performance, pollution prevention, emissions, diversity of thought JEL classification: G30
JEL Classification: G30; G38; G41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Po-Hsuan Hsu (Contact Author)
National Tsing Hua University - Department of Quantitative Finance ( email )
101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road
Hsinchu, Taiwan 300
China
National University of Singapore (NUS) - Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) ( email )
BIZ 2 Storey 4, 04-05
1 Business Link
Singapore, 117592
Singapore
Kai Li
University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )
2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada
604-822-8353 (Phone)
604-822-4695 (Fax)
Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) ( email )
BIZ 2 Storey 4, 04-05
1 Business Link
Singapore, 117592
Singapore

China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) ( email )
1954 Huashan Road
Shanghai P.R.China, 200030
China

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )
c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN) ( email )
Queens University
Kingston, ON
Canada
HOME PAGE: http://https://smith.queensu.ca/centres/isf/research/network.php
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