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Gender Diversity on Boards in Spain: A Non-mandatory Quota

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Gender Diversity in the Boardroom

Abstract

In 2007, Spain became the first country in the European Union to implement a recommended gender quota law for women’s participation on boards. The quota required a 40% gender diversity to be achieved by 2015. Not only was this figure not achieved, however, but by 2016 the representation of women on boards of listed companies stood at only around 20%. The reasons behind this delay are resistance on the part of corporations, a potentially low number of women ready to join boards, and a temporary downgrading of the importance of gender equality as a result of austerity measures in the economic recession.

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Gabaldon, P., Giménez, D. (2017). Gender Diversity on Boards in Spain: A Non-mandatory Quota. In: Seierstad, C., Gabaldon, P., Mensi-Klarbach, H. (eds) Gender Diversity in the Boardroom. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56142-4_3

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