Quota Law Research Articles

Gender-Balanced Seats, Equal Power and Greater Gender Equality? Zooming into the Boardroom of Companies Bound by the Portuguese Gender Quota Law

This paper seeks to analyse the potential for change in the gender quota law on corporate boards in Portugal. This is achieved by incorporating concepts and insights drawn from political science and the study of quotas in politics and adjusting these to the boardroom context. It adds to the literature on women on boards by shedding light on the importance of looking at descriptive representation, substantive representation, substantive equality and transformative institutional change, in order to understand a quota law’s potential for eliciting gender balance in the boardroom, as well as greater gender equality in directorship positions, in board dynamics and at the workplace level. This study uses multi-strategy research methods. Evidence provided by the quantitative analysis of survey data, combined with the qualitative analysis of interviews undertaken with female and male board members and the contents of Gender Equality Action Plans (GEAPs), shows that there have been some changes in terms of descriptive representation, but fewer in relation to substantive equality, as men are still largely over-represented in positions associated with effective power and influence over decision-making. Moreover, although the promotion of gender equality at the workplace is valued by both groups, and particularly so by women, weaknesses have been found in the materialisation of such a commitment (substantive representation) through the adoption of GEAPs designed to tackle gendered patterns at the workplace (transformative institutional change).

On the same page? Differences between male and female board members on the benefits of a gender-balanced representation

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the interplay between male and female board members’ beliefs about women’s competence to fill board positions (valence), the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced boardroom (value) and the significance attributed to the gender quota law as a relevant instrument in eliciting change in board composition.Design/methodology/approachLooking through the lens of expectancy-value theory, the authors investigate whether the perceived benefits of a gender quota law mediate the path between the beliefs about women’s competence to become board members and the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced representation in the boardroom. In addition, the authors investigate whether female and male board members share the same beliefs about a gender-balanced representation.FindingsThe results show that there are differences in beliefs about women’s competencies to become board members and the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced boardroom. Female board members hold stronger beliefs on the competence of women to fill board positions and, thus, assign greater importance to the gender quota law, which, in turn, impacts the greater significance attributed to equal representation of women in the boardroom.Practical implicationsThe findings shed new light on the debate concerning gender quotas aimed at promoting gender-balanced boardrooms by pointing out that differences in value expectations between male and female board members may prevent intraboard gender-equal dynamics.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by adding new insights on how male and female board members perceive the value of legally bound gender quotas, in association with their beliefs about women’s competence to fill board positions (valence) and their expectations in terms of the beneficial outcomes of a more gender-balanced board composition.

O movimento de jovens pobres a instituições renomadas de ensino superior: motivações e contradições

Children and youth are typically positioned as passive subjects in learning, and when talking about working class children in particular, the common belief is that attendance at school institutions will translate into social displacement; that is, that children and young people from this economic segment who invest in the study will be able rise economically. It is in this context that recent public policies aimed at maintaining and extending the presence of children and young people in educational institutions can be understood. Some of these policies aim to guarantee access by blacks and the poor to higher education, from which they have been historically excluded. This paper reports on a qualitative study that addresses the motivations that make young people from lower classes feel called to seek participation in higher education, and what are the subjective consequences of this movement. The study focused on 23 university students, beneficiaries of the Quota Law or the University for All Program, from two recognized quality higher education institutions located in Rio de Janeiro. The results demonstrate that the support of family and peers, a passion for studying per se, identification with the university as a life path, and the expectation of upward social mobility were factors that contributed to motivating young people toward higher education. As far as the university is concerned, we found that it delivers contradictory messages to young people from the lower classes. For one, entering an institution historically destined for another social class can make young people feel that they don’t belong there, which promotes uncertainties about the future. Faced with these challenges, poor young people are driven to “bet on themselves” as a way of overcoming the hardships of the present. However, it was also observed that many of these young people want to use their knowledge and university status to bring about changes in reality. It is concluded that the university in the neoliberal context can reinforce a model of individualistic subjectivation, but that, on the other hand, it can also operate to open lines of escape from this model, in instrumentalizing the poor young person for action towards the other.

Policies for expanding access to higher education and changing the profile of medical graduates in Brazil: a cross-sectional study.

This study assesses the effectiveness of policies to expand access to higher education in reducing inequities in the profile of graduates from medical courses in Brazil. This work consists of a cross-sectional study using data from the 2018 Higher Education Census. Analyses were carried out to identify the association between being a beneficiary of the Quota Law, the University for All Program, or the Student Financing Fund and three markers: born in a small-sized municipality, being non-white, or having attended high school in a public school. Analyses were performed using Pearson's chi-square test, and multivariate analysis was conducted using Poisson regression. A significant association was found between being a beneficiary of these policies and being a non-white graduate, who was born in a small town and who had studied in a public high school. All policies presented adjusted Prevalence Ratio (PR), which demonstrated an association with statistical significance. The Quota Law was the most effective policy, with RP=1.92 for non-white graduates, RP=6.66 for having studied in a public high school, and RP=1.08 for being born in a small town. Despite these results, these groups remain underrepresented in medical courses and in the workforce.

Políticas de ampliação do acesso ao ensino superior e mudança no perfil de egressos de medicina no Brasil: um estudo transversal

Abstract This study assesses the effectiveness of policies to expand access to higher education in reducing inequities in the profile of graduates from medical courses in Brazil. This work consists of a cross-sectional study using data from the 2018 Higher Education Census. Analyses were carried out to identify the association between being a beneficiary of the Quota Law, the University for All Program, or the Student Financing Fund and three markers: born in a small-sized municipality, being non-white, or having attended high school in a public school. Analyses were performed using Pearson’s chi-square test, and multivariate analysis was conducted using Poisson regression. A significant association was found between being a beneficiary of these policies and being a non-white graduate, who was born in a small town and who had studied in a public high school. All policies presented adjusted Prevalence Ratio (PR), which demonstrated an association with statistical significance. The Quota Law was the most effective policy, with RP=1.92 for non-white graduates, RP=6.66 for having studied in a public high school, and RP=1.08 for being born in a small town. Despite these results, these groups remain underrepresented in medical courses and in the workforce.

Shedding light on the gender quota law debate: board members’ profiles before and after legally binding quotas in Portugal

PurposeThis study aims to provide a comparative portrait of the profile of men and women in the boardrooms of listed companies (Euronext Lisbon, Portugal) during the first stage of the gender quota law, by comparing the profile of those board members appointed before the mandated quota law and those appointed after it. This study also seeks to contribute to a critical review of the main reservations expressed by some core institutional actors, who initially voiced their concern that it might be difficult to find women in equal conditions to men in terms of their cumulative experience and qualifications to serve as board members.Design/methodology/approachIn addition to providing a comparative descriptive analysis of male and female board members’ profiles before and after the mandated gender quota law, an aggregate professional endowments measure (professional endowments Index) is also calculated.FindingsThe research findings show that, in the first stage of the quota law, men and women appointed as board members after the mandated gender quota law are fundamentally similar in their professional attributes, forming a more homogeneous boardroom than those holding board positions before it.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on the profile of the men and women serving on the publicly listed company boards in Portugal, by comparing their profiles before and after the mandated gender quota law. This study also fills a gap in the literature, as studies about gender quotas and corporate boards relating to Portugal and Southern European countries in general are still relatively scant. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study carried out into the gender quota law on corporate boards in Portugal.

Do (strong) gender quotas make a difference? Multiple candidacies as a party gatekeeping strategy in Italy

Gender quotas are generally regarded as the foremost measure for the promotion of gender equality in politics. While quotas and their impact vary across countries, a strong quota system is defined as including blocked electoral lists, large district magnitude, strong non-compliance sanctions, and rank-order rules like gender alternation in the candidate lists. Yet, also in the presence of strong quota rules, parties might attempt strategies aimed at mitigating their gender-balancing effect. By taking Italy as a case study, in this article we investigate whether and how parties competing in the 2018 elections were able to adapt their gender gatekeeping strategy to the new quota law. Our finding suggests that Italian parties relied on another characteristic of the electoral system—namely, the possibility of multiple candidacies—to successfully hinder women candidates' chances of election. Accordingly, we highlight that a wider set of electoral system characteristics should be taken into account in the design of a (strong) quota law.

Board dynamics and board tasks empowered by women on boards: evidence from Italy

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of board dynamics produced by reaching a certain proportion of women on board tasks (monitoring, strategy and advisory).Design/methodology/approachUsing a panel of 35 listed companies belonging to FTSE-MIB index, for the years 2008–2015, the hypotheses can be tested by applying random effect regressions. The introduction of gender board quota law in Italy has created a quasi-natural experiment that is applied in the study.FindingsThis research provides evidence that reaching 33% women on boards, which is the threshold mandated by the Italian gender board quota law, makes a difference for strategy tasks but not for monitoring tasks. This proportion of women on boards creates the board dynamics necessary to empower all board members, allowing the varied knowledge, skills, backgrounds and personal qualities to be leveraged and used in strategy tasks. For monitoring tasks, obtaining a proportion of 20% women on boards, as a first threshold enforced by the law, is enough to voice their opinion during board meetings and challenge management.Originality/valueThe results show that each set of board tasks requires different dynamics trigged by a specific proportion between a minority (women) and a dominant subgroup (men). To enhance monitoring tasks performance, it is enough to reach a proportion between men and women which makes the women less isolated and more inclined to speak up during the board meetings. In the case of strategy tasks, the improved performance is achieved when the dominant group enticed to hear women’s opinions and responsive to various perspectives. This paper expands the debates going beyond monitoring tasks, showing the importance of board dynamics for engagement in strategy and advisory tasks.

Ellis Island: A People's History

Ellis Island: A People's History

무엇이 브라질의 젠더쿼터법을 비효율적으로 만드는가?

In recent years, Latin America has continued its institutional efforts to increase women’s political participation despite its deeply rooted male supremacy and patriarchal culture. Brazil also implemented the Gender Quota Law in 1997 to promote women’s participation in the political arena, but it is disgraced as one of the countries with the lowest political representation of women in Latin America. This study analyzed the causes of the continued extreme underrepresentation of Brazilian women in parliament. As a result of the study, the drivers of the low political representation of Brazilian women were derived from two main aspects. The first is the inefficiency of Brazil s gender quota law and institutional imperfections such as Brazil’s unique election system in which it works. Specifically, this study argues that Brazilian women s underrepresentation has been impacted by the small quota size (30%), open-list proportional representation system and the incompleteness of non-compliance sanctions that make the gender quota law nominal. Second, it was suggested that discrimination against women has an effect on the allocation of political resources. In particular, benefits such as candidate identification numbers and candidate broadcast advertising times, as well as election funds distributed by Brazilian party elites, are concentrated on male candidates compared to women, and social media attention, which is emerging as a new political resource in our times, is also higher than female candidates.

On the side effects of mandatory gender diversity laws in corporate boards

Regulators around the world are pushing for a higher representation of females on corporate boards. While this move reduces the representation-based gender gap (RGP), less is known how this may affect the compensation-based gender gap (CGP). Using 56,976 director-year observations around the mandatory gender quota law imposed in the Indian market, we find that a significant reduction of RGP in the post-gender quota law period comes at the cost of a substantial increase in CGP. Our compensation decomposition analyses indicate that CGP in the corporate directors' labour market is driven by disproportionately higher salaries and commissions paid to male directors. Overall, our results suggest a more holistic approach to address the gender gap in corporate boards.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REAL EARNINGS MANAGEMENT: DOES BOARD GENDER DIVERSITY MATTER?

The purpose of this paper was to examine the moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and real earnings management (REM). It drowns on French listed companies from 2005 to 2019. The results show that there is a positive relationship between CSR and REM. Our findings also show that this positive relation is moderated in firms with higher board gender diversity, mainly because female directors show a high socially responsible behaviour and are negatively associated with earnings management practices. Our results are robust to alternative board gender diversity measures, only after the quota law adoption. The positive relationship between CSR and REM suggests that companies with higher CSR performance are exposed to high discretionary behaviour. CSR can be strategically used by managers to hide unethical practices, such as real earnings management activities. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of board gender diversity in reducing agency costs and ensuring higher monitoring, particularly after the quota law adoption.

Inclusão de pessoas com deficiência em empresas do setor industrial

The aim was to verify the vision of managers and employees of human resources in the industrial area about the hiring of people with disabilities - PCD through the Quota Law, practices and policies adopted by the company in the work environment. Qualitative study; data collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed according to the thematic modality as recommended by Bardin. Nineteen employees of an industrial company with mining and metallurgy units in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais were interviewed. Although the Quota Law in the hiring of PCD is met through partnerships, there was a lack of knowledge regarding the legislation. The selection process is carried out by competence and the vacancies for PWD are not separated. The insertion of PWDs was understood as difficult due to the environmental risk, and PWDs need to carry out their work in administrative sectors. Professional qualification was considered precarious and there is a lack of training for employees. There was a lack of knowledge on the part of managers about the legislation, although partnerships with institutions have helped to comply with current legislation, there is a lack of training in relation to the hiring and maintenance of PWD in the work environment, making it evident the need for training initiatives in this area.

Uma análise exploratória sobre seleção e inclusão no Ensino Superior brasileiro: do mérito herdado ao mérito relacional

Abstract This article aims to conduct an exploratory analysis of the meanings of merit in inclusion policies in Brazilian higher education. Higher education admission processes are a fertile field for thinking about the issue of merit in our society due to the decisive role education plays in organizing social inequality. The analysis focuses on the National College Entry Exam (ENEM), the most comprehensive selection process in the country, the Unified Selection System (SISU), a mechanism used by most public institutions, the 2012 Quota Law and the Program for Inclusion based on Merit in Public Higher Education in São Paulo (PIMESP) of the São Paulo State Universities. Assuming merit as a value, the text begins by discussing this concept based on classical and contemporary work. It then addresses the process of educational expansion seen in the 20th century and how this movement led to changes in the organizing principles of admission policies and access to education, shifting from universal merit to relative merit. The third part of the text considers the work of Brazilian authors in discussing several institutional actions that combined ENEM, the Quotas Law of 2012, and SISU as examples of interconnection between universal and relative merit in higher education admissions, despite the problems identified concerning retention policies. By abolishing criteria connected to relational merit, PIMESP became the target of criticism. Considering the positive effects generated from the combination of the quota law, ENEM and SISU, the article stresses the need for revising the Law, slated for 2022, to preserve this critical inclusion mechanism. In conclusion, we suggest that expanding enrollment in higher education also implies challenges regarding retention and graduation policies. Therefore, such policies should consider the relative dimension of merit.

Democracy and the Adoption of Electoral Gender Quotas Worldwide.

This article theorizes and uses global and longitudinal data on gender quota laws to investigate how levels and dimensions of democracy affect the adoption of different quotatypes. Our results demonstrate that countries at middle levels of the democracy scale are more likely to adopt quotas. Within this diverse group of countries, those that have relatively low levels of electoral contestation (i.e., limited political rights) are most likely to adopt reserved seats. On the other hand, the likelihood of adopting candidate quotas is highest in countries where the protection of civil liberties (i.e., individual freedoms of association, etc.) is moderately high. Our findings suggest that different levels and dimensions of democracy provide political actors with incentives and constraints that create distinct trajectories for quota adoption.

Gender Quota and CEO PAY Performance Sensitivity: Evidence from the California Gender Quota Law

Gender Quota and CEO PAY Performance Sensitivity: Evidence from the California Gender Quota Law

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (PWD) AT WORK: A STUDY IN A MATTRESS FACTORY LOCATED IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

In the 1970s, social inclusion became a ubiquitous issue in the global scenario and professionals in the field of People Management began to adopt strategies for the inclusion of people with disabilities (PWD) in the labor market. However, currently, many organizations still face difficulties in hiring PWD, not adopting an effective inclusion, despite being provided for in Law number 8,213 of July 24, 1991 (Law of Quotas for PWD). Given this fact, the objective of this research was to analyze how Law number 8,213 is being applied in a mattress factory located in the city of Três Rios/RJ. This is a research of qualitative approach, which was conducted through an in-depth interview with the manager of the People Management area, through a questionnaire based on the Model of Campos, Vasconcellos and Kruglianskas (2013). To carry out the data analysis, it was used the content analysis technique according to Bardin (1977). As a result of the research, it was found that the factory does not perform as a strategy of People Management an effective inclusion program for the PWD, since practices are not developed to facilitate accessibility, retention and awareness of such individuals in the workplace. It is concluded that the admission of PWD is made tied to the legal obligation, i.e., for the mere fulfillment of the minimum percentage required by Law number 8,213. In this sense, the adoption of palliative strategies prevails in the factory so that people with disabilities are only inserted into the workplace.

Game-Changers for Gender Equality in Germany’s Labour Market? Corporate Board Quotas, Pay Transparency and Temporary Part-Time Work

With a women’s employment rate of 76.6 per cent, Germany now ranks among the top EU countries regarding equal labour market participation. However, substantial differences in the employment patterns of women and men persist in the form of ‘typical’ women’s and men’s jobs, women’s underrepresentation in higher management, a high women’s part-time rate and a considerable gender pay gap. Since 2005, four CDU-led governments have adopted various labour laws, with the most recent of these potentially transforming gendered inequalities. The 2016 corporate board quota law addressed vertical segregation, the 2017 pay transparency act is seen as a means of tackling the enormous gender pay gap and the legal entitlement to temporary part-time work, which came into force in 2019, may tackle the so-called ‘part-time trap’ many women fall victim to. The article examines the implementation impact of the latest labour market reforms and discusses the ways in which they are potential game-changers in transforming the German gendered labour market.

Gendered path dependency: women’s representation in 20th-century Brazil

This study investigates women’s under-representation in national legislative elections and the gendered legacies embedded in Brazil’s electoral system and party dynamics. Focusing on the historical period prior to the 1996 implementation of a quota law, this article applies a feminist historical institutionalist approach to identify institutions and actors influencing women’s representation. Brazil’s electoral rules for legislative elections, that is, an open-list proportional representation system, remained surprisingly stable throughout periods of regime change and institutional uncertainty in the 20th century. It was not until the return to democracy and the 1986 constituent election that women were able to carve some space in Brazil’s National Congress. This research argues that the relaxing of rules dictating the creation of political parties and the strengthening of women’s movements in the prior decade were influential in creating a propitious moment for increasing the presence of women in national legislative politics.

The quotas law for people with disabilities in Brazil: is it a guarantee of employment?

ABSTRACT This study aims to evaluate the effects and effectiveness of establishing legal employment quotas for people with disabilities (PwD) in Brazil for the years of 2007 and 2016. By estimating Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) models, we verify that, in 2007, the Law of Quotas did not affect the employment of people with disabilities. However, in 2016, the effects are positive for firms that employ 100 to 500 workers. Regarding the effectiveness of the law, in 2016, the increase in the number of employed workers with disabilities is approximate to the required quota for firms with 100 to 200 employees.