Quota Law Research Articles

Gender quota laws and firm performance: is there a trade-off?

PurposeThe introduction of gender quota laws in many countries has garnered significant attention in the literature and in the political discourse. Proponents of this solution emphasise its potential to bolster opportunities for women, foster their participation on boards of directors and improve corporate governance, market value and firm performance. Conversely, opponents express concerns regarding the possibility of appointing less-qualified women, thereby diminishing board effectiveness and potentially leading to negative consequences on firm market value and performance. This study aims to address this ongoing debate by examining the impact of gender quota laws on firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe impact of gender quota laws on firm performance, measured through ROE, ROA and ROI, is evaluated using a database of 27,977 Italian firms and adopting a two-stage traditional treatment effect model.FindingsThe econometric analysis reveals a negative impact of the gender quota law on firm performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the academic debate on the pros and cons of imposing gender quota laws by providing empirical evidence on their impact on firm performance.

Ten Years of The University Quota Law in Brazil: An Evaluation Based on Institutional Evasion

Ten Years of The University Quota Law in Brazil: An Evaluation Based on Institutional Evasion

The nexus of tax avoidance and firms characteristics – does board gender diversity have a role? Evidence from an emerging economy

PurposeThis study examines the moderating role of female directors on the relationship between the firms’ characteristics and tax avoidance in an emerging economy.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs the second-generation unit root test and the generalised method of moments (GMM) techniques. The Kao residual cointegration test corroborates a long-run cointegration among variables.FindingsFemale directors demonstrate mixed and unusual findings. No significant impact of female directors on tax avoidance is found. In addition, the presence of female directors does not show any negative or significant moderating impacts on the relationship between leverage, firm age, board size and tax avoidance. However, having more female directors can negatively and significantly moderate the relationship between more profitable firms, larger firms and tax avoidance. These findings show that the board of directors could use the presence of female directors to maximise their opportunistic behaviour, such as to avoid tax.Research limitations/implicationsResearch limitations – The study is limited by considering only 62 listed firms. The scope could be extended to include non-listed firms.Practical implicationsResearch implications – There is increasing pressure for female directors on boards from diverse stakeholders, such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, and Fortune and Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) rankings. This study provides input to decision-makers putting gender quota laws into practice. Our findings can help policy-makers adopt regulatory reforms to control tax avoidance practices and enhance organisational legitimacy. Policymakers can change their policy to include female directors up to the threshold suggested by the critical mass theory.Originality/valueThis is the first attempt in Bangladesh to explore the role of female directors in the relationship between the firms' characteristics and tax avoidance. The current study has significant ramifications for bringing gender diversity into practice as a component of good corporate governance.

The 30% Gender Quota Law in Sierra Leone: A Game Changer for Women’s Access to Parliament?

The 30% Gender Quota Law in Sierra Leone: A Game Changer for Women’s Access to Parliament?

Entry into public higher education - differences highlighted with UFPE data between open competition and quota students

The Quota Law for Higher Education in Brazil, implemented as in the entry of 2013, was designed to facilitate access for students from public schools to higher education, in universities and federal institutes, and promote social inclusion. The law provided that within ten years, counting from the date of publication, a review of the special program for access to higher education institutions would be promoted. This work seeks to contribute to the analysis of law enforcement, especially by observing admission scores comparing quota and non-quota students. We analyzed data from students entering courses in the Basic Area of Entry (ABI – Engineering), Law and Medicine at UFPE, at Campus Recife, which are courses in different areas of knowledge. To analyze performance in the admission process, based on the SiSU grades, all students entering the aforementioned courses in the period from 2016.1 to 2020.2 were considered, totalizing 5145 students. The results reveal that there is evidence that the SiSU grades of students in open competition are higher than the grades of quota students, for the three courses analyzed (Medicine, Law and ABI-Engineering at UFPE), throughout the study period, namely 2016.1 to 2020.2, and also that among the quota students, those self-declared as black, brown or indigenous entered with lower average grades than the other quota students, in all years.

Socioeconomic adversity and higher education: Is the Quota Law a potential bridge to social mobility in Brazil?

This article aims to contribute to the debate on the role of the Quota Law regarding the potential social mobility of students with high socioeconomic adversity, using administrative data from a federal university in Brazil. We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis technique to construct an adversity index, composed of variables that may negatively affect access to higher education, such as students' socioeconomic background, parental education, and ethnicity. We classified courses by expected earnings and assessed how background is associated with course choice. Then, we used regression models estimated by the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to identify the relative importance of the interaction between quota categories with the adversity index and the score on the admission exam (National High School Examination – Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio - ENEM) to predict course choice and consequent possibility of social mobility. The results showed that quotas can reduce the negative effects of socioeconomic adversity on social mobility. However, they are not completely sufficient to “break” the effects of the low quality of secondary education in relation to ENEM performance and, consequently, social mobility.

What Men Want: Parties’ Strategic Engagement With Gender Quotas

Women’s under-representation, particularly in political leadership, remains an important issue globally. Tunisia’s 2018 municipal elections included the adoption of strict gender quotas that resulted in near-parity of male and female elected councilors. Despite this achievement for descriptive representation, fewer than 20% of mayors—selected from among elected list-heads—were women. We argue that this gender gap in council leadership is the result of parties’ strategic engagement with the quota laws. Using election data, an original survey of candidates, and interviews, we demonstrate that parties systematically placed female-headed lists in their weakest districts, placing female candidates at a disadvantage during the mayoral selection process. We provide evidence that these behaviors were motivated by a strategy to avoid “displacing” men in established political networks. This research highlights the role that party elites play in maintaining the existing political bargain at the expense of underrepresented groups, even where strict quotas are adopted.

Correction to: Making Gender Salient: From Gender Quota Laws to Policy by Ana Catalano Weeks

Correction to: Making Gender Salient: From Gender Quota Laws to Policy <i>by Ana Catalano Weeks</i>

Correction to: Review of: “Making Gender Salient: From Gender Quota Laws to Policy”

Correction to: Review of: “Making Gender Salient: From Gender Quota Laws to Policy”

Women in power: the role of gender in renewable energy policymaking

Do female policymakers encourage the production of renewable energy compared to their male counterparts? Using instrumental variables, we conduct a cross-country analysis of 39 high-income countries for the years 1997–2020 using quota laws and women’s suffrage as instruments for women’s participation in the parliament. We find that a 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of women in the legislature increases renewable energy production by 1.54 percentage points. This study suggests that fostering policies that boost women’s participation in policy-making positions is beneficial, especially when considering the positive spillover to other countries.

Gender quotas, board diversity and spillover effects. Evidence from Italian banks

We study the impact of a law, which required the increase of the proportion of women on boards of listed companies to at least one third. We look at its impact on listed banks, but also test whether it led to spillovers into non-listed banks belonging to listed groups or along board diversity dimensions other than gender. Using administrative data, we compare diversity measures of boards of listed and non-listed banks in listed groups with those in non-listed groups, before and after the introduction of the law, in a difference-in-differences specification. We find that the gender quota law only changed the composition of the boards of listed banks, with no effects on their economic performance, nor relevant spillovers on other non-listed banks in listed groups. The law also enhanced diversity on boards of directors of listed banks along individual characteristics other than gender.

Law of Quotas and Student Assistance at Federal Institute of Acre: Analysis of permanence and success rates in Integrated High School courses (Campus Rio Branco)

The article analyzes the retention and success rates of students entering in 2019 in Integrated High School courses at the Federal Institute of Acre (Campus Rio Branco), benefiting from student assistance notices (socioeconomic support programs) during the period of curricular completion and, furthermore, observes existing policies, their applicability and effects regarding the retention and success of incoming students in the form of quota places and broad competition. The methodology used was of a qualitative-quantitative approach and applied in nature. As for procedures, it is considered documentary and bibliographic. Based on concepts from the Nilo Peçanha Platform, data collected from the School Registration Coordination and the Student Assistance Center both at the Rio Branco Campus were discussed, obtaining retention and success rates and reflecting on the effects of the assistance policy student. Based on research carried out in Federal Institutes on the topic of permanence and success in technical courses. In view of the research carried out, the results demonstrated, in many situations, that the ideal of democratizing the entry of vulnerable popular classes is not a guarantee of success in professional training and that there is a need to think about the development of institutional actions for the strategic plan of permanence and success.

AÇÕES AFIRMATIVAS NO ACESSO À EDUCAÇÃO BÁSICA: UM OLHAR SOBRE O COLÉGIO PEDRO II

ABSTRACT: The intention of this article is to analyze the Quota Law (Law 12.711/12) and other affirmative actions implemented by Colégio Pedro II (CPII) and their contributions to the expansion of educational opportunities. We seek to answer two main questions: what affirmative actions were adopted in their admission selection processes over time? And, what changes are perceived in the sociodemographic profile of entrants, especially since the Quota Law? The study is exploratory and documentary, with descriptive analyses based on secondary data obtained from the CPII website and microdata from the School Census. We used as reference three cohorts of entrants in the 6th grade of Elementary School and the 1st grade of regular and integrated High School, in the years 2012, 2014, and 2016. The main results show that since 2005, CPII has adopted an affirmative action policy for student admission with a reservation of 50% of the spots for public school graduates. Starting in 2013, the Quota Law was implemented in both the integrated and regular High School, adding to the existing public school criteria, income criteria, race/color, and disability criteria. The analysis of the students' socio-demographic profile reinforces the contribution of CPII's affirmative action policies and the Quota Law in expanding access opportunities, especially for Black/Brown students.

RELAÇÕES ÉTNICO-RACIAIS NA EDUCAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL TÉCNICA DE NÍVEL MÉDIO: UMA REVISÃO INTEGRATIVA

ABSTRACT: This study aims to analyze the scientific evidence on ethnic-racial relations education in the scope of technical professional education at the secondary level. This is an exploratory and qualitative research, whose integrative literature review technique allowed the systematic selection of reports in six stages. Initially, the search of articles through SciELO, CAPES Journal, and Google Scholar from the terms race, ethnicity, race factor, racism, racial prejudice, racial discrimination, ethnic-racial relations, professional and technological education, and professional education, along with Boolean operators, resulted in 11,336 titles, and after screening, 11 articles were included. For discussion, the following categories were used: institutionalization of Law nº 10.639/2003 and curriculum; structural racism; quota law; nucleus of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous studies, research and extension; pedagogical experiences about ethnic-racial diversity; students' and teachers' perceptions of ethnic-racial diversity in the curriculum; and the role of teachers for the professional education of black women. It was found that there is a long way to go for the institutionalization of Laws 10,639/03 and 11,645/08 in the curricula and in the teaching-learning practices of vocational training, reinforced by the negative perceptions of students and teachers about ethnic-racial diversity in the curricula. of professional and technological education institutions, especially when it comes to integrated courses. However, the quota laws, the implementation of NEABI, and the different teaching experiences stood out as affirmative actions that promoted racial equality.

Women directors and E&S performance: Evidence from board gender quotas

Using the natural experiment created by France's 2011 board gender quota law, we find that the presence of women on boards increases firms' environmental and social (E&S) performance. After the quota law, firms are more likely to create an E&S committee, and women directors are increasingly serving as members of the main board committees and as chairs of E&S committees. We find that prior to being recruited to boards, women directors have more environmental and social experience than men. Combined with their increased authority after the introduction of quotas, their E&S skills allow them to steer companies toward more E&S-oriented policies.

From 30 percent to gender parity in everything: the steady route to raising women’s political representation in Mexico

ABSTRACT This article assesses 30 years of gender quota adoption and reform in Latin America through the lens of earlier theorizing about the incremental and fast tracks. Focusing on women political actors’ ongoing efforts to transform weak quota laws into comprehensive parity requirements, we argue that most fast-track countries follow a steady route. This route builds on Drude Dahlerup and Lenita Freidenvall’s landmark conceptualization of the fast track, introducing countries’ reliance on iterative quota reforms and demonstrating how innovation in quota design continuously raises the bar for what constitutes a “good” quota or parity law. We demonstrate this route using a case study from Mexico, focusing on the 2014 adoption of gender parity for the federal and state legislatures and the 2019 adoption of “parity in everything,” meaning parity for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Book Review: Making Gender Salient: From Gender Quota Laws to Policy

Book Review: Making Gender Salient: From Gender Quota Laws to Policy

Adopting a gender quota policy in Qatar: a path to gender equity

PurposeSocietal barriers continue to cause gender disparities in women’s share of political authority. As a representative case study for the Arab Gulf region, this paper aims to investigate public opinion on adopting a nationwide quota for women’s participation in top government offices in the Qatar context. It gathers insights on the following question: How does public opinion respond to a proposed new political arrangement of implementing gender quota laws in Qatar?Design/methodology/approachData were collected via a national telephone survey of a representative sample of 660 Qatari nationals chosen by simple random sampling. A regression analysis was performed for the primary outcome: support for a gender quota system that guarantees a specific proportion of places for women in the government and executive positions.FindingsUnsurprisingly, the findings reveal gender variations in support for the three distinct types of egalitarian policy examined (i.e. a quota for women in top government positions; a quota for women in executive positions in public ministries; and equal wages), with women being more supportive than men.Research limitations/implicationsAssessing the public attitudes toward adopting legislative gender quotas is of interest to policy-makers and civil organizations alike that seek to advance women’s political status and democratic representation.Originality/valueThis study is among the very few to empirically examine public opinion on quotas as state-directed initiatives to promote the involvement of women in political power in Qatar.

Profile analysis and confunding for life quality: disabled people and race

Disability means a physical, intellectual or sensory disability, permanent or temporary nature, which limits the ability to perform one or more activities. It is characterized as complex, dynamic and multidisciplinary. They are affected by poor health outcomes, lower educational attainment, lower economic participation, higher poverty rates, greater dependency and restriction on participation and inclusion. Racism is a behavior that is the result of aversion, hatred, towards people who have a racial resemblance that it is possible to observe, through traits such as skin color, hair type, it results from the belief in the existence of superior human races or types and inferior, in an attempt to impose itself as unique or true. Life Quality results from the relationship between biological, social and psychological factors and also from the integration between the individual and society, being transformed according to the period of life and the socio-cultural environment in which the individual is inserted. In terms of Brazil, the existence of these two situations can be noted that are subject to assistance from the public authorities, such as the quota laws for disabled people and for races the black, brown and indigenous. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effect for race, disability and the interaction between race and disability for the variable’s education, income and gender through a comparative study using descriptive analysis and experimental design for the 2010 Demographic Census data and that can contribute to a better life quality for these groups.

The female audit committee members expertise and experience: is there a trade-off between accrual-based and real earnings management?

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of female AC representation (ACFEMALE) following the adoption of gender quota legislation on the trade-off between accrual-based (AEM) and real earnings management (REM), taking into consideration their demographic attributes. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 89 companies listed in the SBF 120 during the period 2012–2018 has been employed. The authors have obtained the explanatory variables using the principal component analysis method. To provide empirical evidence for the testable hypotheses, the authors have estimated a least squares regression. A differences-in-differences analysis has been estimated to analyze the impact of the gender quota law imposition. Findings The regression results indicate that companies with a higher proportion of ACFEMALE have more tendency to use REM rather than AEM. The authors further denote that the ACFEMALE expertise negatively affects AEM. Moreover, the authors find that the ACFEMALE experience helps reduce both AEM and REM. Results from the DID analysis exhibit that the ACFEMALE effect on the trade-off between REM and AEM occurs for the period that follows the implementation of the French gender quota law. Furthermore, the authors denote that the negative link between the ACFEMALE experience and AEM and REM dissipates for both the pre- and the postgender quota law adoption. Originality/value This study extends the prior existing research by examining, for the first time, the relationship between female directors’ appointments and the trade-off between accrual-based and REM. As well as, the research provides primary evidence on the channels through which female directors may affect the managerial preference regarding the earnings management techniques AEM or REM.