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Corporate Governance and Gender Diversity in Europe: A Strategic Win-Win Opportunity in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Book cover The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Its Impact on Ethics

Part of the book series: Sustainable Finance ((SUFI))

Abstract

Vindicating the role of women in the governance of companies in the 4th Industrial Revolution, in this paper we analyse in a panoramic way what is the current reality of gender representation on company boards in the European Union in the light of the different legal approaches that coexist. The lack of a common approach has determined that the reality in the different countries is far from homogeneous and the absence of a harmonization of the legislation allows national measures to be extremely disparate. Some countries that initially excluded the establishment of mandatory quotas have moved on to implement them by accelerating the incorporation of women into corporate decision-making bodies. Other States persist with voluntary approaches, with progress generally being slower. In this study we address the regulatory mosaic that defines the present European panorama, as well as the state of European Union legislation, with special reference to the state of the Proposal for a Directive aimed at improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies.

This work has the support of the University of Alcalá (UAH Research Project, reference: CCG2018/HUM-054).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain

    Adoración Pérez Troya

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  1. Adoración Pérez Troya
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Correspondence to Adoración Pérez Troya .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. President European Women Lawyers Association, Founding Partner 3C Compliance, Brussels, Belgium

    Katharina Miller

  2. CEO. Eccos Impact GmbH, President of SwissFinTechLadies, Cham, Zug, Switzerland

    Karen Wendt

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Pérez Troya, A. (2021). Corporate Governance and Gender Diversity in Europe: A Strategic Win-Win Opportunity in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In: Miller, K., Wendt, K. (eds) The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Its Impact on Ethics. Sustainable Finance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57020-0_3

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