Sex bias in the boardroom

Abstract

The article reports on a study by Diana Bilimoria of Case Western Reserve University and Sandy Kristin Piderit of the University of Michigan which focused on the composition of board committees and possible sex bias. The researchers examined five characteristics for selecting committee members such as whether the director had insider or outsider status and if there were business or nonbusiness interlocks. They found that male directors were favored for membership on three committees that related to corporate governance and female directors were favored only for the public affairs committee.