Equbusiness book VERSION 28SEPT2023 - Flipbook - Page 126
CONCLUSION
Research shows that to truly benefit from gender diversity on corporate boards, it is crucial to
strengthen women9s voices in those environments. Simply having a certain women-to-men ratio is
insufficient. While current regulatory actions focus on external motivations, their impact is limited.
That is why this book set out to explore what impacts gender diversity on corporate boards and how to
improve it.
Based on literature and empirical evidence, this book has looked into reasons why individuals are (not)
open to a position on the board, factors that determine whether or not they are appointed to their
desired position, and ways to achieve higher levels of gender diversity. The most crucial factors were
illustrated in the Women Voice Model, based on a series of interviews and focus groups with numerous
board members in Belgium, Lithuania, Spain and Türkiye throughout the Equbusiness project. Like the
model, the book was also structured according to these four domains: Gender-specific internal factors,
Career related factors, Governance and performance related factors, and External factors.
Firstly the section on gender-specific internal factors had a closer look at how individuals are more
attracted to tasks and roles in which they can recognize themselves. It also explained how women have
been shown to shy away from challenges they could succeed at, for example due to lower levels of
confidence (Betz & Hackett, 1981) even when they are perceived as equal by evaluators (Herbst, 2020;
Lindeman et al., 2019; Wong and Rasdi, 2019). Next to that, women9s self-promotion is limited due to
fear of the perception by others, which can have a self-limiting effect. The section also discussed how
risk-taking, altruism and motivation differ between women and men.
Secondly, the section on career related factors focused on work-life balance. Various theories showed
how women experience more challenges regarding achieving balance between their personal and
professional life, and thus are less likely to pursue high-expectancy jobs. Women are more often
expected to fulfill a conflicting double role as main caregiver and professional, for example, while men
experience other challenges: as the main breadwinners they experience more pressure to prioritize
their careers, negatively affecting the amount of time they spend at home.
Thirdly, the section on governance and performance related factors had a look at internal and external
governance mechanisms, and the role of shareholder engagement. The corporate board structure and
ownership structure of the organization were found to be the main internal corporate governance
mechanism affecting diversity on the board: family businesses are more likely to accept women on
their boards, especially when they are family members. Human resource management also proves to
play a critical role in advancing gender diversity and equality within organizations and on corporate
boards, as it decides whether or not an individual is deemed fit for the role. Here, gender neutral
language is advised, as well as encouraging personal and professional development programs for all to
reduce inequalities. Next to that, chapter 6 explains how women on corporate boards do not have a
positive or negative impact, but rather a neutral one, based on the sample, while existing literature
shows varying results. Thus, more research on this seems to be required.
Finally, external factors were discussed. To address gender diversity in corporate boards, quotas are
heavily relied on by legislators, although they rarely result in transformative effects. NGOs, however,
play a pivotal role in challenging systemic discrimination and promoting social change. This brought us
