More than having a seat at the table: From bringing women in the boardroom to making their voice heard

Gender quota laws has legitimized and institutionalized the presence of women and has enriched the board with their human and social capital. However, women are still struggling to see their input being recognized and to influence the board decision-making. Female directors face various obstacles that may undermine their active contribution to the board debate. In this chapter we summarize the knowledge accumulated on board gender diversity with a focus on the main factors that prevent their nomination as directors or limit their contribution to board decision-making. There are a few obstacles hindering women’s access to top managers or directors’ positions identified at macro- (country), meso- (e.g., industry, firm, and board) or micro- (individual) level. However, the biggest challenge faced by women today probably is not gaining access to the board of directors but getting their contribution to be more visible and their voice to be more heard by the other board members. We identified two major types of obstacles: (1) those that curb female directors to raise questions and voice their opinion, and (2) those that impede them to have their voice heard inside the boardroom. Going forward, it will be essential to increase the number of women in high-level decision-making roles such as CEO, board chair, lead independent director or board committees’ chair. Also, the categorization of women in one dimension may be inappropriate and may lead to unconscious biases that my affect both women’s behavior and choices related to the career path, and the barriers they face outside and inside the boardroom.