Gender Quota for Boards of Corporations in Spain
This article describes the limited success of the corporate governance self regulation system aimed at achieving a balanced presence of women and men on the boards of listed companies. To provide empirical evidence, an analysis of the representation of female directors in Spain is presented. This study also aims to examine the effects of the recommendations on gender diversity contained in the Spanish Good Corporate Governance Code and in the Effective Equality Act 2007. The results show the scant presence of women on Spanish boards until 2013, but reports of 2013 reveal changes in that respect, and statistically significant differences can be observed compared with previous years, probably due to the amendment of the Companies Act 2010. However, the draft EU Directive on improving the gender balance seems to be the only way to reach effective gender equality.