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Women on Boards of Directors: Gender Bias or Power Threat?

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Part of the book series: Issues in Business Ethics ((IBET,volume 14))

Abstract

Companies have come under pressure within the last decade to appoint more women and minorities to their boards of directors. This pressure has come from institutional investors such as state retirement associations, individuals such as a Catholic nun, women’s rights activist organizations such as Catalyst, and scholars who work in the area of women on corporate boards.

“Choosing a Board of Directors based on race and gender is a lousy way to run a company.”

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation chief executive officer T.J. Rodgers, reacting to a letter he received from a Catholic nun, suggesting he put qualified women and minorities on the company’s board of directors (Pollock, 1996: A 1).

“No study has proved that diversity makes a better board.”

Nucor chief executive, Ken Iverson, reacting to TIAA-CREF’s proposal that Nucor add women and minorities to its board of directors (McMenamin, 1995: 174).

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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Fondas, N. (2000). Women on Boards of Directors: Gender Bias or Power Threat?. In: Burke, R.J., Mattis, M.C. (eds) Women on Corporate Boards of Directors. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3401-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3401-4_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5395-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3401-4

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