New study: Gender quotas boost investor confidence in female board candidates

The study, conducted by researchers from Hanken School of Economics in collaboration with EDHEC and Audencia Business Schools in France, has been published in Corporate Governance: An International Review.

“Despite concerns that quotas might compromise candidate quality, the study found no evidence of such a decline. On the contrary, shareholders now gave increased support for female candidates, and valued their qualifications at par with those of male ones”, says Eva Liljeblom, professor of finance at Hanken School of Economics.

According to the researchers, this indicates that gender quotas can be a powerful driver of change, even in countries where very few women were on boards before the quotas were introduced.

“Unlike what critics of gender quotas claim, the research shows that there are enough qualified women to fill the new positions created by the quotas. This suggests that the previous lack of female board members was not due to a shortage of talent, but rather due to barriers in the job market that made it harder for women to be selected”, says Anders Löflund, professor of finance at Hanken School of Economics.

The study analysed over 2,700 director elections in France between 2007 and 2020, capturing shareholder behavior before and after the 2011 Copé-Zimmermann law, which required 40% female representation on boards by 2017.