Firms, Boards and Gender Quotas: Comparative Perspectives

Gender equality in business life has become a hot topic. one impetus to a renewed debate is the recent reform in Norway, prescribing gender quotas to the boards of directors of public limited liability enterprises. Shortly after the Norwegian reform was enacted, several other European countries have developed similar reforms.

In this volume the gender quota is discussed from several angles: whether the economic performance of companies is influenced, positively or negatively and reasons why it has been embraced in some countries and rejected in others. Moreover, viability of the gender quota reform is assessed by comparisons to other political interventions in business life in Scandinavia, of which some have been failures whereas others have shown themselves as successful.

The gender quota reform is analysed on the background of the broader theme of gender and the distribution of power between women and men in working life. A comparative study of the access of women to top positions in enterprises in Europe gives a more comprehensive picture of gender inequalities than what has been possible hitherto, indicating significant effects of both family patterns and public policies. This broad picture is enriched by detailed discussions of gender relations in family firms, in Europe as well as in East Asia.

Table of contents:

Introduction: Gender and Varieties of Economic Power – The Significance of Family and State
Fredrik Engelstad and Mari Teigen

PART I: Gender and Economic Power

Top Down or Bottom Up? A Cross-National Study of Vertical Occupational Sex Segregation in 12 European Countries
Andrea Schäfer, Ingrid Tucci and Karin Gottschall

PART II: Firms and Families

Modes Of Familism: Gender, Family Capitalism and Family Culture
Jorun Solheim, Ragnhild Steen Jensen

Family, Labour Market Structures and the Dynamics of Self-Employment in Three Asian Countries: Gender Differences in Self-Employment Entry in Japan, Korea and Taiwan
Hirohisa Takenoshita

PART III: Gender Quotas to Boards of Directors

Gender Quotas on Corporate Boards: On the Diffusion of a Distinct National Policy Reform
Mari Teigen

Why Gender Quotas in Company Boards in Norway – and Not in Sweden?
Vibeke Heidenreich

Feminism without Gender? Arguments for Gender Quotas on Corporate Boards in Norway
Hilde Bjørkhaug, Siri Øyslebø Sørensen

Women on Boards of Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from Denmark and Norway
Harald Dale-Olsen, Pål Schøne, Mette Verner

Limits to State Intervention into the Private Sector Economy: Aspects of Property Rights in Social Democratic Societies
Fredrik Engelstad