Increasing Women’s Participation on Corporate Boards in the USA

Karen Somerville¹, Catherine Elliott², Cathy Gustafson^3
(1. Somerville and Associates Management Consulting LLC;
2. Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada; 3. C. E. Gustafson and Associates)

Abstract: Results from a qualitative study of 15 women executives working in small business in the United States indicate that while many of them have interest in participating on corporate boards, generally they do not have the time to take actions to secure such positions. As well, these results suggest that while most of these women agree that there is a problem with the lack of women on corporate boards, they do not support the approach taken by several European countries to legislate quotas. Instead, the majority of the women in this sample prefer a softer approach to increase the number of women on corporate boards in the United States, such as setting targets and publicizing the results.

Key words: women; corporate boards; leadership; entrepreneurs; United States

JEL code: M1