Abstract
The promotion of gender balance within corporate boards is considered one of the tools to support the gender diversity in the society as a whole. This paper would be a first step of a research project about the future of women on boards when the Italian L.120/2011, which imposes gender quotas in corporate governance bodies, will expire. In particular, the analysis focuses on the current board composition of the Italian-listed companies, with a particular focus on the nomination committee. The main tasks of this committee are the assessment of the board composition and the proposal of candidates for board positions; therefore, it could have an important role in the promotion of more balanced board with regard to gender in the absence of binding rules. This paper aims first to fill the existing gap in the literature about the role of nomination committee for gender-balanced boards, also with regard to different industries. Furthermore, it is a starting point for future researches extended to other countries, with potential practical implications, suggesting regulators to focus their attention on committees’ composition, not only with regard to number and status of independence but also with regard to gender.
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Notes
- 1.
The actual chapter represents the evolution and refers for some contents to the following published chapter: Gennari, F. (2019) “European Women on Boards and Corporate Sustainability” in Paoloni, P. and Lombardi, R. (Eds), Advances in Gender and Cultural Research in Business and Economics. 4th IPAZIA Workshop on Gender Issues 2018. Springer: Switzerland.
- 2.
Corporate Governance Code of Borsa Italiana, at Article 5, says: ‘the Board of Directors shall establish among its members a committee to propose candidates for appointment to the position of director, made up, for the majority, of independent directors’. The nomination committee institution is historically born in outsider systems, characterized by a high degree of fragmentation of the stockholder structure, for the purpose of ensuring an adequate level of independence of the directors with respect to the management.
- 3.
CONSOB: Italian Companies and Exchange Commission is the authority responsible for regulating the Italian securities market.
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Gennari, F., Fornasari, T. (2020). Gender Diversity in Nomination Committee: A Way to Promote Gender Balance on Board?. In: Paoloni, P., Lombardi, R. (eds) Gender Studies, Entrepreneurship and Human Capital. IPAZIA 2019. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46874-3_3
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