Detail Cantuman

Abstract In recent years, several countries have enacted
guidelines and/or mandatory laws to increase the presence
of women on the boards of companies. Through these
regulatory interventions, the aim is to eradicate the social
and labor grievances that women have traditionally experienced
and which has relegated them to smaller-scale jobs.
Nevertheless, and despite the advances achieved, the
female representation in the boardroom remains far from
the desired levels. In this context, it is now necessary to
enhance the advantages of board gender diversity from
both ethical and economic points of view. This article
examines the relation between board gender diversity and
economic results in Spain: the second country in the world
to legally require gender quotas in boardrooms and historically
characterized by a minimal female participation in
the workforce. Based on a sample of 125 non-financial
firms listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange from 2005 to
2009, our findings show that in the period analyzed the
increase of the number of women on boards was over
98 %. This suggests that compulsory legislation offers an
efficient framework to execute the recommendation of
Spanish codes of good governance by means of the
increase in the number of women in the boards of firms.
Furthermore, we find that the increase in the number of
women on the boards is positively related to higher economic
results. Therefore, both results suggest that gender
diversity in boardrooms should be incremented, mandatory
laws being a key factor to do so.
Keywords Corporate governance  Economic
performance  Gender diversity  Regulatory intervention 
Code of good governance