{"id":673,"date":"2026-04-16T14:54:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/?p=673"},"modified":"2026-04-16T21:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:13:27","slug":"ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The FERBOPO project is pleased to highlight a new research publication addressing gender representation in corporate governance, published in Women’s Studies International Forum<\/a>:<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study examines the presence and role of women on corporate boards in developed markets, contributing to ongoing debates on gender equality, corporate governance, and inclusive leadership. The research explores patterns of representation and the structural factors that influence women\u2019s participation in decision-making positions within major companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings contribute to a growing body of research suggesting that increasing women\u2019s participation in governance structures is not only a matter of equality, but also linked to improved decision-making processes and organizational performance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Article Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Article title: Women on corporate boards in developed markets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authors: Mihaela Herciu, Claudia Ogrean, Simona Vinerean, Carolina \u021a\u00eembalari, Alexandra Radu, Radu \u0218erban<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year: 202<\/strong>6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journal: Women’s Studies International Forum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link: Article<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Citation: <\/strong> Herciu, M., Ogrean, C., Vinerean, S., \u021a\u00eembalari, C., Radu, A., & \u0218erban, R., 2026. Women on corporate boards in developed markets. Women’s Studies International Forum<\/em>, Vol. 117, p. 103335). doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.wsif.2026.103335<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article Abstract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite decades of policy discourse, voluntary diversity initiatives, and growing scholarly attention, women remain severely underrepresented on the corporate boards of developed market companies, especially as a director of the corporate board or similar. Most existing research on board gender diversity draws on large-cap indices, generating a systematically optimistic picture of women’s progress in accessing corporate governance roles. This study addresses that gap by providing a large-scale, cross-sectional empirical analysis of board gender diversity across four global regions (Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania), 35 countries, and all 11 GICS sectors, drawing on a dataset of 19,591 board director records from developed market companies compiled from LSEG Data and Analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings reveal the severity and universality of women’s marginalization: female directors hold just 7.23% of board seats globally, exposing the structural distance from gender parity even in developed markets. This figure falls far below the levels typically reported. Regional differences are statistically significant but modest in effect size, reflecting the near-universal nature of gender underrepresentation rather than its concentration in specific geographies. At the sectoral level, male board dominance is not industry-neutral: women are most visible in Utilities (13.20%) and most marginalized in Energy (4.92%), patterns that invite further feminist inquiry into how sector-specific cultures and labor histories shape women’s access to economic authority. Also, a significant board-executive gap is documented: female executives account for only 5.48% of officer positions indicating that gender barriers compound across hierarchical levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These findings enrich the women’s studies literature by providing a rigorous, cross-regional, multi-sector empirical foundation for feminist scholarship, policy advocacy, and corporate governance reform in order to understand how gender inequality is reproduced at the highest levels of economic power. They provide empirical grounds for prioritizing binding regulatory mandates over voluntary frameworks, for integrating board-level diversity initiatives with executive pipeline development, and for recalibrating the benchmarks against which progress is measured. Without structural intervention, gender parity on corporate boards across the developed market universe remains a distant prospect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FERBOPO project is pleased to highlight a new research publication addressing gender representation in corporate governance, published in Women’s Studies International Forum: This study examines the presence and role […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publications"],"yoast_head":"\nFERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A significant academic contribution was authored by FERBOPO Researchers and published in Women's Studies International Forum.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A significant academic contribution was authored by FERBOPO Researchers and published in Women's Studies International Forum.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FERBOPO ERA Chair - EU-Funded Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-16T14:54:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-16T21:13:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"FERBOPO ERA Chair\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"FERBOPO ERA Chair\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/\",\"name\":\"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-16T14:54:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-16T21:13:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#\/schema\/person\/515cd31e8e5ecb6179d67a3a47bd36c8\"},\"description\":\"A significant academic contribution was authored by FERBOPO Researchers and published in Women's Studies International Forum.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"FERBOPO ERA Chair Project - Publications and Results\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/\",\"name\":\"FERBOPO ERA Chair - EU-Funded Project\",\"description\":\"Fostering Excellence in Research on State-Church-Body Politics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#\/schema\/person\/515cd31e8e5ecb6179d67a3a47bd36c8\",\"name\":\"FERBOPO ERA Chair\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06719277facb8c28ffba9cfb0e806032?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06719277facb8c28ffba9cfb0e806032?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"FERBOPO ERA Chair\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/author\/grant-ferbopo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets","description":"A significant academic contribution was authored by FERBOPO Researchers and published in Women's Studies International Forum.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets","og_description":"A significant academic contribution was authored by FERBOPO Researchers and published in Women's Studies International Forum.","og_url":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/","og_site_name":"FERBOPO ERA Chair - EU-Funded Project","article_published_time":"2026-04-16T14:54:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-16T21:13:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"FERBOPO ERA Chair","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"FERBOPO ERA Chair","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/","url":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/","name":"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png","datePublished":"2026-04-16T14:54:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-16T21:13:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#\/schema\/person\/515cd31e8e5ecb6179d67a3a47bd36c8"},"description":"A significant academic contribution was authored by FERBOPO Researchers and published in Women's Studies International Forum.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-content\/uploads\/FERBOPO-Publications.png","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"FERBOPO ERA Chair Project - Publications and Results"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/ferbopo-research-2026-women-corporate-boards-developed-markets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FERBOPO Research 2026: Women on Corporate Boards in Developed Markets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#website","url":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/","name":"FERBOPO ERA Chair - EU-Funded Project","description":"Fostering Excellence in Research on State-Church-Body Politics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#\/schema\/person\/515cd31e8e5ecb6179d67a3a47bd36c8","name":"FERBOPO ERA Chair","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06719277facb8c28ffba9cfb0e806032?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06719277facb8c28ffba9cfb0e806032?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"FERBOPO ERA Chair"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo"],"url":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/author\/grant-ferbopo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":675,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions\/675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ferbopo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}