Why Women Say No to Corporate Boards and What Can Be Done

Abstract

Research indicates many women prefer being self-employed and entrepreneurs, creating value based on their personal beliefs, rather than sitting on boards as "Ornamental Directors". Furthermore, the road to corporate boards for women has been long, tortuous, and bumpy, but needlessly so. Several theoretical explanations have been suggested for this situation, often with overlap and similarities. However, we believe that in other barriers are due to poor 'signaling' of success for female directors and structural issues. The messaging comes in the form of networks and nomination process bias, role model and mentor shortages, work-family balance, legal ambiguity, policies, and cognitive behavior. This leads to what we call the "Ornamental Director" syndrome.

Claiming the corner office: Female CEO careers and implications for leadership development

“…Only one female respondent recounted “defining moments” of their leadership that predate their career, echoing literature on gendered patterns of career‐relevant experiences (e.g., Fitzsimmons et al, ; van Staveren, 2013). Hence, female leadership candidates face two barriers early on: Others may presume that they have fewer relevant experiences and would not consider them as a serious candidate (Rowley, Lee, & Lan, ), and women may struggle to see their own ability, leading them to underrate their own leadership performance (Paustian‐Underdahl et al, ). This “neurotic impostor” syndrome (Kets de Vries, ) means that female leadership candidates are less likely to put themselves forward, but they are also less likely to be considered by others.…”

Do Board Gender Diversity and Director Typology Impact CSR Reporting?

“…() found that three or more female board members act as determinants for CSR disclosure, offer better explanations of CSR strategy and include assurance statements. Women refuse to sit on boards as ‘ornamental directors’ (Rowley et al, ), and a critical mass can help to avoid such a situation. We will apply this threshold number to test the possible effects on CSR disclosure.…”

Underrepresentation of Women Managers in the Boardroom: Evidence from the Sri Lankan Financial Sector

“…Based on the Rowley et al (2015) foremost reasons behind women refraining from entering board level positions are the negative signals they receive from the early stages of their careers which indicate women directors as mainly confined to ornamental roles. These negatives signals are outcomes of bias networking, lack of availability of role models and mentoring, perceived challenges related to the workfamily balance and voids in the legal system which can impact women to create a perception that their role is simply symbolic in board level positions (Rowley et al, 2015). Thus, it is evident that women's perceived glass ceiling is mainly related to the signals they receive from the organizational and social context.…”

“…Specially in South Asia, deeply rooted patriarchal values infuse confined options for women at all institutional levels from family to the corporate level. When considering women's involvement at board level positions in Asia, Rowley et al (2015) emphasized that women's pathway to corporate boards are prolonged, much difficult, and rutted than for the men. Further, it is explained that in the Asian context, both business and national cultures act as focal impediments for women directors which need to be explored in detail.…”