Did Board Gender Quotas Break the Glass Ceiling in Europe?

Abstract

Nine European countries adopted gender quotas for companies' boards of directors between 2005 and 2021, before the European Parliament adopted an EU-wide quota in 2022. Using 25 years of data, we estimate the quotas' effects on female shares of corporate directors and senior executives of large public companies. We find that while the female share of nonexecutive directors increased by 20 percentage points within six years after a quotas' adoption, women's representation among CEOs or other senior executives hardly changed. These results suggest that policymakers interested in increasing gender diversity among senior executives might need to consider more targeted policies.

Keywords: female leadership, gender quotas, corporate diversity, discrimination

JEL Classification: J16, J44, J71, J78, K22, G34, G38