How Not To Help Women In The Workplace

The evidence on executive quotas is mixed, at best:

The most comprehensive study to date, led by Marianne Bertrand of the University of Chicago, shows that at least in the short term, they’ve had little effect beyond the obvious: placing more women on boards. In Norway, the quotas have not led to an increase in the overall number of female executives, to a decrease in the gender pay gap, to a boom in the number of young women pursuing careers in business, or to more family-friendly workplace policies.

Increasing the number of women on boards can have multiple benefits. Several studies have shown that diversity on boards improves decision-making and profits, yet women are often not considered for boards simply because they are not part of the old boys’ club. But the quotas’ limited effects show that just getting some women at the top doesn’t remove all the obstacles blocking other women from the upper echelons.

Recent Dish on female executives here.