Board quotas in Norway have not overcome gender inequality in business

Evidence suggests that gender quotas on boards of directors do not necessarily facilitate gender equality across other areas of business.

A new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has assessed the impact of Norway’s female board quota law passed in 2003. The law has significantly boosted female participation on boards of directors, with women now making up 40.7% of the nation’s non-executive director roles.

However, despite this encouraging increase, there is little evidence that this has caused a reduction in the gender wage gap, or an increase in the number of female executives. NBER’s paper found that a mere 6.4% of management roles belong to women.

These findings demonstrate that raising the number of female executives does not automatically lead to an increase in the pool of women available for non-executive jobs, and so should not be viewed as a solution to gender equality.

Kristen Skogen Lund, head of the NHO employers’ federation, has previously expressed her disappointment that the quota “has failed its primary purpose, which was to stimulate more women into management.”

Nina Smith picks up on this point. She suggests the policymakers should focus on ensuring that there is sufficient amount of women able to progress to senior management, by boosting the skills of women lower down in the company.

Read more here.

Related articles:
Gender quotas on boards of directors, by Nina Smith
Gender diversity in teams, by Ghazala Azmat