The Eco Gender Gap in Boardrooms

81 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2022 Last revised: 17 Oct 2023

See all articles by Po-Hsuan Hsu

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

Date Written: October 3, 2023

Abstract

Using firm- and facility-level measures from 2002 to 2021, we show that having female directors leads to more environmental-friendly business operations. To establish the causal effect, we resort to plausibly exogenous variations in the share of female directors and a California law change. We show that neither board qualifications nor standard diversity measures supersede the share of female directors in explaining corporate environmental performance, suggesting that director gender is likely a holistic measure of female directors’ values and perspectives, and that female directors contribute to diversity of thought. Our findings highlight positive externalities among firms’ environmental, social, and governance engagement.

Keywords: female directors; boards; corporate environmental performance; pollution prevention; emissions; board gender quota

JEL Classification: G30; G38; G41

Suggested Citation

Hsu, Po-Hsuan and Li, Kai and Pan, Yihui, The Eco Gender Gap in Boardrooms (October 3, 2023). European Corporate Governance Institute – Finance Working Paper No. 861/2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4281479 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4281479

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 )

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Singapore, 117592
Singapore

Kai Li

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )

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Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada
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604-822-4695 (Fax)

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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

Yihui Pan

University of Utah - Department of Finance ( email )

David Eccles School of Business
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
United States

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