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Although these studies have been widely accepted by academics and professionals, opponents of the law will have all the motivation to challenge them, undermining what has long been one of the most compelling arguments for adding women on the boards.
And research has questioned the claims of such studies.
"While advocates insist that women on boards improve corporate performance and the diversity of working groups improves performance, research results are mixed and repeated meta-analyzes have resulted in zero or extremely low average correlational results, "Alice Eagly, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote in a study titled" When passionate advocates meet diversity researchers, does the honest broker have a chance? " "
Finally, a practical problem arises: when a Norwegian law obliging boards of directors to count at least 40% of women among its members entered into force in 2006, the results suffered from the abrupt modification of their composition, according to a 2010 University of Michigan study.
"Quotas have led to younger and less experienced boards," the authors concluded, "as well as a deterioration in operating results." The study suggests that performance was not affected because of sex, but more of the upheaval than the advice effort to comply with the law. This could be a reasonable cost to accelerate progress, but some investors may have difficulty appreciating this point.
And the truth is that there is a much more effective way of creating progress that does not require new laws.
Investors, big and small, can use their influence to push the boards of directors to diversify. Companies such as BlackRock and pension funds like Calpers, California's Public Employees Retirement System, are already working to achieve change. BlackRock told companies that it wanted to see at least two women among the board members of the companies in which it invests. Calpers wrote to 504 companies in 2017 asking them to improve diversity and voted against corporate directors who did not respond to his requests. . Let's hope that the constant pace on this subject will encourage new responsible companies to progress.
Yes, it's slow. And there seem to be obstacles for American companies that feel much higher than for European companies, which are way ahead of us in this regard.
Growing diversity of all kinds was always going to be a journey. We will get there. But do not do anything to bring it back involuntarily.
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