Our preliminary results on gender board diversity spillovers were presented on Poznan Economics University conference.  We raised there a question regarding the interaction of presence of women in executive and non-executive roles – do women help women?

It is a fact that women constitute minority in boards.  There is a possibility that they serve only as token, for the public eye, roles. The diversity is a hot topic in the public debate that results in public policy quotas on non-executive board function gender compositions. It is therefore crucial that we understand the interplay of gender diversity between those management and supervisory roles. Previous studies worked on small samples or listed companies. Thanks to a novel gender and board identification we go far beyond public eye. We work with 3 billion firms both public and private - from around 30 European countries. We perform panel regression taking into account presence of female in executive and non executive boards as well as the indicator of them being listed on a stock exchange.

At first glance it seems there is no gender spillover. However, upon closer look,

1) there is a positive spillover in listed firms, but a negative one in firms hidden in the shadows of public scrutiny,

2) one women in non executive role is token - even under the public scrutiny.

All comments are enthusiastically welcome.