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Corporate Leadership and Inherited Beliefs About Gender Roles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2023

R. David McLean ,
Christo Pirinsky  and
Mengxin Zhao
R. David McLean*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Christo Pirinsky
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida cpirinsky@ucf.edu
Mengxin Zhao
Affiliation:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission zhaom@sec.gov
*
dm1448@georgetown.edu (corresponding author)
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Abstract

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Some U.S. firms have women directors and executives, while many do not. We seek to explain this heterogeneity. Using U.S. Census data from 1900, we find that U.S. counties with populations originating from countries with stronger gender-egalitarian beliefs have more women in the labor market and in STEM occupations, and lower gender-pay gaps. Firms headquartered in such counties have more women executives and directors. When firms move to more gender-egalitarian counties, the representation of women on board increases. Our findings are consistent with the idea that inherited beliefs about gender roles impact the labor market and corporate leadership.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis , Volume 58 , Issue 8 , December 2023 , pp. 3274 - 3304
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington

Footnotes

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement of any SEC employee or Commissioner. This article expresses the author’s views and does not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or members of the staff. We are grateful for the helpful comments from an anonymous referee, Kee-Hong Bae, Diane Denis, Mara Faccio (the editor), Mike Hertzel, Gilles Hilary, Jun-Koo Kang, Daniel Urban, seminar participants at Georgetown University, Georgia Tech, George Mason, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Nanyang Technological University, and participants at the Northern Finance Association Meeting 2021.

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