Composition of the Board of Directors and Management Board

10. Results

Table 4: Average female share on Board of Directors. Source: Own construction.

The average female share on the board of directors over the five years is presented above in table 4.

When looking at the average of the period, the top three countries are Nordic, with Norwegian companies on the top, followed by Swedish and Finnish companies. The Danish companies stand out among the Nordic countries having a lower average. Companies from Switzerland and Austria have the lowest average female share on the board of directors. Illustrated in table 4, the trend is that the female share is growing over the period. This indicates that most companies have a positive trend.

However, the Norwegian companies has a negative trend between 2016 and 2019 before experiencing a positive growth for 2020. In addition, companies from Austria have a negative development in 2020.

10.1.2 Management Boards

Table 5: Average female share on management boards. Source: Own construction.

Table 5 illustrates the average female share on the management boards over the five years. Compared to the board of directors, the average female share on management boards is considerably lower.

Norwegian companies still have the highest average, followed by companies from Sweden and the United Kingdom. Similar to the average female share on the board of directors, companies from Switzerland and Austria have the lowest average. Austrian companies stand out with a remarkable low share of female presences at an average of 3.62% over the past five years.

10. Results

10.1.3 Chairman, CEO, and CFO

In addition to collecting the composition of the board of directors and management boards, the decision was made to collect data on the gender of the Chairman, CEO, and CFO. The aim is to take the gender diversity within the specific leadership positions into account. In addition, the thesis will later examine if there is a correlation between a high proportion of women in the corporate boards and women in top positions.

Table 6: Average share of female Chairman. Source: own construction.

From table 6 above, the average of female representatives among the Chairman position by countries for the period is evident. Again, Norwegian companies have the highest percentages. Noticeable, the study finds that 27 out of the 50 values presented in the table, have a female share of 0%. Further, all companies in four out of the ten countries have a male Chairman over the entire period. The numbers are quite stable as there are minor changes during the period. This is, to some degree, expected as the position of Chairman is commonly filled by the same person for a longer tenure. Despite the low numbers, the trend is positive, looking at the period in its entirety.

10. Results

Table 7: Average share of female CEO. Source: Own construction.

As above, table 7 shows the average of female representatives, this time among the CEO position, by countries for the period. Companies from the United Kingdom have the highest average of female CEOs. The results also show that in 2017 there were no female CEOs in our dataset. Despite this, the trend of female CEOs is positive.

Table 8: Average share of female CFO. Source: Own construction.

Finally, table 8 show the average of female representatives among the CFO position by countries for the period. Compared to the table 6 and 7 of Chairman and CEO, the numbers are higher. Danish companies have the highest average, followed by companies from Netherland and Sweden.

10. Results

In conclusion, the tables reveal that the proportion of females is relatively low for the positions of Chairman, CEO, and CFO, especially compared to the average of female shares in the board of directors and management boards.

10.1.4 With or Without Legislations

To analyze the effect of female quotas, this section presents the difference of the female share in corporate boards and leadership positions between countries with and without legislations.

Table 9: With or without legislation. Source: Own construction.

The results show that the average for the countries without legislation is higher on the board of directors and management board. Over the five years, the increase of the female share on corporate boards is higher for the countries with legislation. The countries with legislation have a higher average on the position of Chairman, while the countries without legislation have a higher average on the position of CEO and CFO.

10.1.5 Correlation

A correlation analysis between the variables of gender diversity on the board of directors, the management board, Chairman, CEO, and CFO is conducted to illustrate their relationship.

10. Results

Table 10: Correlation matrix female share. Source: Own construction.

The correlation measures the degree to which two variables move in relation to each other. The only occasion with a negative correlation is the relationship between CFO and CEO. In general, the correlation values are low, hence the variables are weakly correlated. The relationship with the highest correlation is between the board of directors and management board with 0.298. In principal, when the correlation between BD and MB is positive, this means that having female members at the board of directors correlates in line with having female members on the management board. For a correlation to show a strong positive connection, the numbers should be 0.6 and above. A value of between 0 and 0.3 is usually defined as weak or only showing an association between the variables.