Board Gender Quotas and Female CEOs in Private Firms

• Authors: Sonia Falconieri, Paolo F. Volpin, Francisco Urzúa and Marcelo Ortiz.
• Keywords: private firms , board quotas , female CEOs
• JEL codes: G14, G34

Since Norway’s board gender reform in 2003, many European countries have introduced gender targets for the boards of listed firms. We examine how these regulations affected the gender of newly appointed chief executive officers (CEOs) in private firms. Using cross- country and industry-level variation in exposure to the reform, we document an 8 to 13 percent increase in the number of appointments of female CEOs in industries with listed firms subject to the reforms, and no change in industries without such exposure. The effect is stronger in countries with mandatory quotas and where board appointments are more salient. The results indicate that board gender regulations generated positive spillover effects beyond the targeted listed firms, increasing the representation of women in top executive positions in private firms; however, they did not lead to a broader country-level cultural shift.