Gender Quotas for Boards of Directors: Gendering Economic Governance in a Time of Financial Crisis

The gendering of economic and financial decision-making has become an issue of general as well as gendered importance as a consequence of the financial crisis.  The paper starts with a review of the evidence on the effectiveness of legal instruments as compared with voluntary regimes in narrowing the gender gap on corporate management boards.  It finds that legal instruments to enforce quotas are an effective and fast means of achieving change.  The use of voluntary regimes has led to some increase in the proportion of women on corporate boards, but the effects are significantly smaller and slower.  The only instance of achieving 40% of each gender on Boards of Directors was through the use of legal instruments to enforce quotas.  The paper moves on to an analysis of the changing discursive justification and political actions in the implementation of quotas in EU Member States and at the EU level, with a particular focus on the tension between the UK and EU on this issue.  The final section considers the implications of the analysis of gendered decision-making in the governance of finance for theories of gender and of the financial crisis.  It explores the tensions between arguments framed by ‘culture’, by ‘democracy’ and by ‘political economy’.  In conclusion, the paper argues that gender is part of the cause as well as consequence of the financial crisis.