Women on Boards and Corporate Governance: Evidence from Listed Companies in Thailand

Abstract

Despite high female participation in the Thai labour market, female representation on Thai boards of directors is low. This study investigates the effect of female representation on boards of directors on the level of corporate governance in Thailand. The ordered logit regression is applied to a dataset of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The main results show that an improvement in corporate governance is associated with a higher ratio of women appointed as board directors. Furthermore, female leadership in the form of chairpersons on executive and audit committees, two important subcommittees, strongly and positively affects corporate governance levels. Finally, the presence of women on a board has a similar effect on corporate governance as that of the presence of independent directors does. The findings offer an insightful introduction to policy makers for promoting female leadership roles on boards to enhance corporate governance.