Research pick: Gender in the boardroom - "The shape of female board representation"

Christina Öberg of the School of Business at Örebro University in Sweden has investigated the “shape” of female representation in the corporate boardroom. Her findings suggest that representation may not be the issue per se when it comes to gender equality at the highest level in management but rather how well “nested” female board members are and the perception of their roles and rank on the board and the effect of being on more than one board and how those connections are interlocked.

Writing in the International Journal of Comparative Management, Öberg has found that the power of women on boards varies with various different factors. Among those are the existence of few or many interlocks on the board, the number of representations held by the female board member, the fragmented or large network that the female board member is part of, and whether the network consists of direct or indirect links.

Öberg points out that the gender diversity debate has led to a new focus on the question of female board representation. In some countries, this focus has led to welcome legislation. The important point is that for too long representation on corporate boards has not reflected society’s gender composition nor looked to equality. This new work contributes to research on gender diversity by introducing relative power as an important concept related to interlocks on the board and to the shape of interlock networks. There are implications for ensuring that boards represent gender diversity and have equality and also for how directors might benefit from this and be guided by such research in the appointment of board members.

Öberg, C. (2020) ‘The shape of female board representation’, Int. J. Comparative Management, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2, pp.53–72.