Gender equality is widely discussed topic in the modern society, and the issue of female underrepresentation on corporate boards has been discussed for decades. Previous research, on one hand, is focused on non-financial contribution of women on boards, such as improvement of communication, decision-making, stronger focus on CSR and stakeholder orientation etc. On the other hand, correlation between female presence and financial outcomes, such as accounting and market performance, has been receiving contradicting results that would show positive relationship, negative or no relationship at all. However, earlier studies only considered the physical presence of women on boards as a predictor of performance. They did not account for the actual role of women on the boards - are they tokens, or do they hold a real power to make a change and influence financial outcomes? In order to rise above the shortcomings of the previous research, this study evaluates the power held by women on Swedish boards in Large Cap companies. With that purpose, power indices had been developed that consider such influence sources as leadership, committee participation, connections to the owners and to the management, and experience. The power index also accounts for the fulfillment of “critical mass” criterion. The findings had shown a negative relationship between power of female directors and firm performance, although this correlation might be explained by a short-term oriented nature of the research. Furthermore, this paper suggests a large variety of subjects for future research in the field of gender equality on boards.

Since the mid-2000s, there has been a significant increase in female directors in Japan. Organized around the central feature of this emerging wave, this dissertation is a multifaceted project that combines historical research with reception studies, industry studies, gender studies, and formal analysis of films and marketing paratexts. In exploring the connections between film production, reception, exhibition, and auteur personas, I argue that the recent emergence of women into commercial cinema is fueled by gendered marketing tactics that seek to target contemporary female consumers. This focused gendering of auteur, product, exhibition space, and presumed spectator is changing the landscape of cinema in Japan, a process some refer to as "feminization." My dissertation rethinks the history of Japanese cinema with regards to the relationship between filmmakers as gendered bodies, distribution companies and marketing as patriarchal power structures, and the capital wielding demographic of female spectators as influential, but often neglected, consumers. / 2015-07-11

Antalet kvinnliga styrelseledamöter i bolag har ökat de senaste åren och studier visar att bolag med könsdiversifierade styrelser redovisar högre lönsamhet än andra företag. Flera av dessa studier är baserade på data från små, medelstora och stora börsnoterade bolag. Regeringen föreslog nyligen en kvoteringslag där kvinnor skall utgöra 40 procent av antalet styrelseledamöter i bolag med syfte att få mer jämlika styrelser. Intressant är då att studera om fördelarna med könsdiversifierade styrelser beaktas av investerare och hur marknadsaktörer agerar. I studien visas att när nominering av kvinnliga styrelseledamöter offentliggörs har det en negativ påverkan på företagets marknadsvärde, men denna påverkan är inte statistiskt signifikant. Vidare påverkas inte nomineringens inverkan på aktiekursförändringen av ett bolags branschtillhörighet. / The number of female directors of companies has increased in recent years and studies show that companies with diverse boards report higher profitability than other companies. Several of these studies are based on data from small, medium and large listed companies. The government recently proposed a quota law where women will constitute 40 per cent of the directors of companies to push for more equal boards. Hence, studying the benefits of diverse boards and its investor reactions and how the market is moving is of interest. The study shows that when the nomination of female board members is published, it has a negative impact on the company's market, but this effect is not statistically significant. Furthermore, the nomination affect does not have an impact on the stock price change regarding the company's industry affiliation.

Women are often predominated in so-called "women´s jobs" including nursing, teaching and administration while jobs such as manager, board of director and financier are dominated by men. Hence, the corporate board has been male-dominated. However, in recent decades the number of women entering the boardroom has increased. Women are aware of their opportunites in terms of managerial jobs. Nevertheless, Sweden has one of the highest levels of gender equality in the world. Women with business experience and education are steadily moving upp the corporate ladder. The importance of female directors´ contributions on the corporate board has been recognized. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how women contribute on the corporate board in Sweden. The focus of the study lies on the perspectives of female and male directors. The study was conducted with the use of a qualitative method. It provided us with an understanding of the subject based on respondents´ experience. In order tol fulfill the purpose, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female directors on the corporate board in Sweden. The empirical data was analyzed by the process of qualitative data analysis (QDA). We have increased the knowledge of female directors´ contributions on the corporate board in Sweden. Female directors do not posses a profound understanding of female customers. There is a strong link between female representatives and enhanced board communication. Furthermore, there is no relation between female directors and companies´ involvement in charitable activities. There is no difference in the way female and male directors monitor the board.

<p>Women are often predominated in so-called "women´s jobs" including nursing, teaching and administration while jobs such as manager, board of director and financier are dominated by men. Hence, the corporate board has been male-dominated. However, in recent decades the number of women entering the boardroom has increased. Women are aware of their opportunites in terms of managerial jobs. Nevertheless, Sweden has one of the highest levels of gender equality in the world. Women with business experience and education are steadily moving upp the corporate ladder. The importance of female directors´ contributions on the corporate board has been recognized. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how women contribute on the corporate board in Sweden. The focus of the study lies on the perspectives of female and male directors. The study was conducted with the use of a qualitative method. It provided us with an understanding of the subject based on respondents´ experience. In order tol fulfill the purpose, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female directors on the corporate board in Sweden. The empirical data was analyzed by the process of qualitative data analysis (QDA). We have increased the knowledge of female directors´ contributions on the corporate board in Sweden. Female directors do not posses a profound understanding of female customers. There is a strong link between female representatives and enhanced board communication. Furthermore, there is no relation between female directors and companies´ involvement in charitable activities. There is no difference in the way female and male directors monitor the board.</p>

The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the differences in human capital profile of new appointed female directors to corporate boards as a result of mandatory quotas and voluntary targets. By exploring differences in age, and human capital differences in board tenure, executive experience (CEO, CFO), number of qualifications, and the number of directorships held by these women, this study contributes to the important and current international public policy decision debate on relevance and wisdom of adopting a mandatory gender quota or introducing voluntary targets. The study uses human capital theory to evaluate the profiles of 41 new female directors appointed through a mandatory quota in Norway and 397 new female directors appointed through voluntary targets in Australia and extends the current corporate governance literature on board gender regulation by exploring whether female directors differ in human capital as a result of the two types of regulations. The results of this study show that new female directors hired through a quota are on average younger than new female directors hired through a target; new female directors hired through a quota are less likely to have more years of board experience than new female directors hired through a target; new female directors hired through a quota are likely to have more years of executive experience than new female directors hired through a target; and new female directors hired through a quota have lower number of qualifications than new female directors hired through a target. These results, albeit contrary to the hypotheses developed in this study, propose several important implications from an academic, management, and policy point of view while at the same time have limitations that present opportunities for future research.

Cette thèse propose d'étudier dans quelle mesure la diversité du genre au conseil d'administration influence la qualité des états financiers. Plus précisément, cette thèse explore la relation entre la diversité du genre au conseil d'administration et la qualité des états financiers en soulignant l'influence des attributs des femmes administrateurs sur la qualité des états financiers.Cette thèse repose sur un large échantillon d'entreprises françaises appartenant à l'indice CAC All-shares d'Euronext Paris entre 2001 et 2010. Après avoir contrôlé l'endogénéité et d'autres facteurs spécifiques au conseil d'administration, à l'entreprise et à l'industrie, nos résultats montrent que la diversité du genre au conseil d‟administration est positivement associée à la qualité des états financiers. De plus, nos résultats mettent en lumière une influence significative des attributs des femmes administrateurs sur la relation entre la diversité du genre dans les conseils d'administration et la qualité des états financiers. En ce qui concerne plus particulièrement les attributs, nous avons trouvé que l'appartenance au comité d‟audit, l'expertise comptable et financière et l'expérience des femmes ont un impact positif et significatif sur la qualité des états financiers. L'ensemble de ces résultats témoigne de l'importance des compétences dans les conseils d'administration diversifiés en termes de genre et révèlent la pertinence des attributs des femmes administrateurs pour assurer la qualité des états financiers. / This thesis proposes to study to what extent board gender diversity influence the quality of financial statements. Specifically, this thesis explores the relation between gender-diverse boards and financial statements quality by highlighting the value relevance of female directors‟ attributes for enhancing the quality of financial statements.This thesis focuses on a large sample of French firms belonging to the CAC-All shares index listed on Euronext Paris over the period 2001 to 2010. We find, after controlling for endogeneity and other board, firm and industry specific factors, that board gender diversityis positively associated with the quality of financial statements. Further, our findings provide evidence of significant influence of female directors‟ attributes on the relation between gender-diverse boards and financial statements quality. With regard to female directors‟ attributes, we find concrete evidence to suggest that audit committee memberships, financial expertise and experience of women have substantial impact on the quality of financial statements. Taken together, these results testify the effective monitoring skills of gender-diverse boards and the value relevance of female directors‟ attributes for ensuring the quality of financial statements. Finally, an important implication of thesis is that the decision to appoint women on corporate boards should be more based on their statutory and demographic attributes than blind implementation of gender quotas.

No / This paper seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by examining the effect of governance structures on environmental performance within a unique context of improving environmental governance, policies, regulations and management. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which corporate board gender diversity, including the proportion, age and level of education of female directors, affect environmental performance of Chinese publicly listed corporations. Using one of the largest Chinese datasets to-date, consisting of a sample of 383 listed A-shares from 2011 to 2015 (i.e., observations of 1,674), our findings are three-fold. First, we find that the proportion and age of female directors have a positive effect on the overall corporate environmental performance. Second, our findings indicate that the proportion and age of female directors also have a positive effect on the three individual environmental performance components, namely environmental (i) strategy, (ii) implementation and (iii) disclosure, respectively. Finally, and by contrast, we do not find any evidence that suggests that the level of education of female directors has any impact on environmental performance, neither the overall environmental performance measure nor its individual components. Our findings have important implication for regulators and policy-makers. Our evidence is robust to controlling for alternative measures, other governance and firm-level control variables, and possible endogeneities. We interpret our findings within a multi-theoretical framework that draws insights from agency, legitimacy, neo-institutional, resource dependence, stakeholder, and tokenism theoretical perspectives.

Syfte: Studien genomförs i syfte att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan BGD (Board Gender Diversity) och total CSP (Corporate Social Performance) samt mellan BGD och miljödimensionen respektive den sociala dimensionen.   Metod: I studien antas en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med hypotetiskt-deduktiv ansats. Två urval med olika bolagssystem undersöks. Totalt undersöks 403 europeiska bolag. 121 bolag med dualistiskt bolagssystem och 282 bolag med monistiskt bolagssystem. Studiens kvantitativa forskningsstrategi formas utifrån en longitudinell design vilken implementerats mellan åren 2008-2017. All data samlades in via Thomson Reuters Datastream och analyserades sedan i SPSS.   Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studien finner ett signifikant positivt samband mellan BGD och total CSP samt mellan BGD och miljödimensionen respektive den sociala dimensionen. Företag med högre BGD tycks ha större benägenhet att investera i CSR. hållbarhetsprestation. Sambandet påvisas inom såväl det dualistiska som det monistiska bolagssystemet. BGD:s påverkanseffekt är dock starkare inom det monistiska bolagssystemet.   Examensarbetets bidrag: Med studien erhålls ny kunskap om relationen mellan BGD och total CSP samt mellan BGD och miljödimensionen samt den sociala dimensionen. Studien är bland de första att göra en jämförelse mellan det dualistiska och det monistiska bolagssystemet. Resultatet är relevant med hänsyn till att det ställs allt högre krav på företag att agera hållbart samt den pågående debatten om huruvida EU bör införa obligatorisk könskvotering i styrelser.     Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ytterligare forskning på land- och branschnivå behövs då sambandet kan skilja sig åt mellan de olika länderna och branscherna, och således påverka logiken bakom obligatorisk könskvotering. Framtida forskning föreslås även inkludera det tredje bolagssystemet, mixed board structure. Vidare ges förslaget att titta närmre på företagsrisken och dess betydelse inom olika bolagssystem, dels med avseende på företagens hållbarhetsprestation, men även med avseende på BGD. Slutligen föreslås framtida forskning undersöka de enskilda CSP-dimensionerna närmre i syfte att utröna vad som kan ligga bakom BGD:s större inverkan på den sociala dimensionen. / Aim: The study is carried out in order to investigate whether there is a link between BGD (Board Gender Diversity) and total CSP (Corporate Social Performance) as well as between BGD and the environmental and social dimension respectively.   Method: In this study we adopt a positivist research philosophy with a hypothetical-deductive approach. Two samples with different board systems are studied. 403 European companies in total are studied. 121 companies with a two-tier board system and 282 companies with a one-tier board system. The quantitative research strategy is based on a longitudinal design implemented between 2008-2017. All data was collected through Thomson Reuters Datastream and then analyzed using SPSS.   Result &amp; Conclusions: The study finds a significant positive relationship between BGD and total CSP as well as between BGD and the environmental dimension and the social dimension respectively. Companies with higher BGD seems to be more likely to invest in CSR. The relationship is found within the two-tier board system as well as the one-tier board system. However, the impact of BGD is stronger within the one-tier board system.   Contribution of the thesis: The study provides new knowledge about the relationship between BGD and total CSP as well as between BGD and the environmental dimension and the social dimension. The study is among the first to make a comparison between the two-tier board system and the one-tier board system. The result is relevant in view of the increasing demands on companies to act sustainably as well as the ongoing debate on whether the EU should introduce mandatory gender quotas on boards.   Suggestions for future research: Further research at country and industry level is needed as the relationship may differ between different countries and industries, thus affecting the logic behind mandatory gender quotas. Future research is also proposed to include the third board system, mixed board structure. Furthermore, the proposal to look more closely at the corporate risk and its importance within various board systems, partly with regard to the companies’ sustainability performance, but also with regard to BGD, is given. Finally, it is proposed that future research could investigate the individual CSP dimensions more closely in order to determine what may be behind BGDs greater impact on the social dimension.

We employ S&P 1500 firms from 2000 to 2013 to investigate how female directors affect firm value. We explore two possible channels, the monitoring effect and the risk management effect, through which female directors can have material effect on firms. While the prior research shows a negative relation between female directors and firm value, we find that such a relation diminishes in the post-SOX period (2004 to 2007). More importantly, female directors enhance firm value in the crisis period (2008 to 2013). Our findings suggest that the way female directors affect firm value changes depending on the external environment. Female directors benefit firms mainly by monitoring in the post-SOX period but by risk management in the crisis period.