The Paradox of Affirmative Action for Women Directors in Israel

Whereas governments are increasingly considering affirmative action programs to increase corporate board diversity, the effect of such programs can be superficial as they do not address the underlying problem, which is women’s access to and inclusion in relevant corporate networks. To address this issue, we study the relationship among affirmative action programs (binding gender quotas and non-binding gender targets), director networks, and the number of board positions individual directors hold given their gender. We use personal, professional, and network characteristics of 25,127 unique directors from 2,435 public firms in 32 European countries over the period of 2000 through 2017. We find that in the absence of affirmative action programs, women directors benefit less from their networks than men directors suggesting the existence of a gender gap in network benefits. After the passage of binding gender quotas, this gender gap in network benefits narrows between women and men directors. Overall, this research suggests that binding gender quotas make director networks a more salient tool for hiring women and may help in leveling the playing field in the way these networks are used for achieving top management positions.

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Speaking in one voice: the response of higher education to affirmative action threats

Journal of Dental Education ◽

10.1002/j.0022-0337.1999.63.10.tb03312.x ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 63 (10) ◽

pp. 753-758

Author(s):

H Garza

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action and Leadership Attitudes in Brazilian Women Managers

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000039 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 139-143 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Gazi Islam ◽

Sarah E. S. Zilenovsky

Keyword(s):

Affirmative Action ◽

Latin American ◽

Women Managers ◽

Psychological Effects ◽

Preferential Selection ◽

Justice Perceptions ◽

First Time ◽

The Relationship

This note examines the relationship between affirmative action (AA) program perceptions and women’s self-ascribed capacity and desire to become leaders. We propose that women who believe that their organization implements a program of preferential selection toward women will experience negative psychological effects leading to lowered self-expectations for leadership, but that this effect will be moderated by their justice perceptions of AA programs. We test this proposition empirically for the first time with a Latin American female sample. Among Brazilian women managers, desire but not self-ascribed capacity to lead was reduced when they believed an AA policy was in place. Both desire’s and capacity’s relationships with belief in an AA policy were moderated by justice perceptions.

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