Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Strategies for Increasing Board Diversity – A Conversation with Aaron Dhir and Deborah Rhode.
Sponsored by the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession, the Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford Women on Boards, and the Vision 2020 Project.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
5:00 – 5:30pm Reception
5:30 – 6:30pm Presentation
Stanford Law School, Room 190
The Center on the Legal Profession, the Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford Women on Boards, and the Vision 2020 Project co-host a discussion between Stanford Law School Professor Deborah Rhode and Visiting Professor Aaron Dhir, author of the new book, Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Corporate Law, Governance, and Diversity
(Cambridge University Press 2015).
The lack of gender parity in the governance of corporations has ignited a heated global debate about the most effective way to increase diversity on corporate boards. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with corporate board directors in Norway and documentary content analysis of corporate securities filings in the U.S., Dhir’s book investigates two distinct regulatory models designed to address diversity in the boardroom: quotas and disclosure.
His study of Norway’s quota model demonstrates the important role diversity can play in enhancing the quality of corporate governance, while also revealing the challenges diversity mandates pose. His analysis of the U.S. regime shows how a disclosure model has led corporations to establish a vocabulary of “diversity.” At the same time, the analysis highlights the downsides of affording firms too much discretion in defining that concept. This book deepens ongoing policy conversations and offers new insights into the role law can play in reshaping the gendered dynamics of corporate governance cultures.
See also:
Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Corporate Law, Governance, and Diversity
Review: Getting Women on to Corporate Boards
Women on Corporate Boards: Global Trends for Promoting Diversity
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