European board structure and director expertise: The impact of quotas

This paper examines the relationship between the presence of female board members and measures of board independence and director expertise in Europe. We examine public corporations in countries that introduce gender quotas as well as those in a sample of countries without quotas. As shown in earlier papers, the quotas increase the percentage of females on the board; we also find pending quotas are associated with greater female board representation. We find some evidence that female representation is associated with greater board independence in the Nordic countries, but a legislated but not yet enforced quota decreases this positive association. In Southern Europe female representation is positively related to board expertise but the pending gender quota decreases this relationship. The paper provides empirical evidence that the composition of the board varies based on the gender of directors, but not to a great extent. This paper also reveals that pending and required quotas affect board structure.