Diversidad de género en los consejos de administración: El efecto de la normativa en la presencia de mujeres en las empresas españolas cotizadas

Purpose: This paper studies the implication on Spanish listed companies´ corporate governance structures of regulations that aim to promote gender diversity on boards- code of good governance, Spanish national quota legislation and the proposal of Directive of the European Commission-. Design / Methodology / Approach: We analyze the changes in corporate governance, using statistical techniques for related samples and panel data that relate to gender diversity for Spanish listed companies from 2003-2016. Results: The results show a slow positive trend of women in corporate governance of Spanish listed companies as well as a positive effect of gender diversity on boards’ regulation, although not for all variables studied. In fact, the percentage of women executive directors, Chairwoman and women CEOs, and the percentage of women in executive committees are very low over all the studied period. Besides, the effect on women presence in corporate governance structures is higher for national normatives, code and quota, than for the threat of the European Directive. Limitations / Implications: The main paper limitations are associated to the sample used (listed firms) and to the institution context (the Spanish case). The quota approved by theSpanish Equality Act affects large firms, not just quoted firms. Spanish institutional environment and its characteristics may affect the effects associated to the law. In different institutional environments, the results could differ The paper reveals the positive effect on women’s presence in corporate governance structures of legislation that promotes women on boards. Nevertheless, there still remains a long trend to achieve parity. Gender diversity on corporate governance structures has important implication for corporate reputation. Originality / Contribution: We analyze the impact of gender diversity regulation on women presence on boards of directors. We extend the analysis considering directors’ typology and other corporate boards i.e. board committees and TMT.