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Gender Equality and Policy Implementation in the Corporate World: Making Democracy Work in BusinessAmy Mazur (C.O. Johnson Professor of Political Science, Washington State University)
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This presentation will present the findings of the Gender Equality Policy in Practice Study on Corporate Board Gender Equality published as a book and edited by Amy Mazur and Isabelle Engeli with Oxford University Press in 2022, Gender Equality and Policy Implementation in the Corporate World. The study examines the implementation of specific policies that seek to promote women’s presence on corporate boards in 15 democracies in Western and Central Eastern Europe, North America and Australasia through the lens of the Gender Equality Policy in Practice Approach. The following research questions are addressed in the thirteen country chapters by leading country experts and two comparative chapter: How are policies adopted and implemented? Did they achieve any degree of success that would allow for real and lasting equality? What are the politics of the pursuit of corporate gender equality across the 15 countries? What worked and did not work and why? What are the lessons to be drawn from these experiences? The principle findings to be presented are the policy implementation does matter, but that in this last bastion of male domination, policies have had more success in increasing women’s numbers over challenging gender-biased norms that block women of all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds from gaining real power on boards. The reasons for this slow change are highly complex and case specific, in the details of each policy mix. While progress has been slow in coming, it has still been made even in these challenging times. The major policy recommendation coming out of this study will be discussed as well in the presentation.