Chipping Away at the Glass Ceiling: Gender Spillovers in Corporate Leadership

American Economic Review · 2011 · Volume 101 · Issue 3

Abstract

This paper examines the role of women helping women in corporate America. Using a merged panel of directors and executives for large US corporations between 1997 and 2009, we find a positive association between the female share of the board of directors in the previous year and the female share among current top executives. The relationship's timing suggests that causality runs from boards to managers and not the reverse. This pattern of women helping women at the highest levels of firm leadership highlights the continued importance of a demand-side "glass ceiling" in explaining the slow progress of women in business.

Keywords

Mergers, Acquisitions, Restructuring, Voting, Proxy Contests, Corporate Governance, Economics of Gender, Non-labor Discrimination, Wage Level and Structure, Wage Differentials, Labor Discrimination, Personnel Management, Executive Compensation

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