Do age and size of companies affect female directors on boardrooms?

Abstract

Gender diversity on boards is one of the attributes of good corporate governance practices. Male directors over the years have continued to dominate boards of corporate bodies. Our study is aimed at exploring the impact of older and matured companies on female directors on the boards. The study employs data of companies listed on the main floor of the Nigerian Stock Market from 2012-2016. The study segregated the sampling period into pre and post mandatory periods of the SEC code. Findings from the study revealed that throughout the periods, age of company is positive and significant. In the pre mandatory period, size of company is negatively significant. During the post mandatory and the entire sample period, size of company was found to be positively associated with female directors. This implies that fear of greater liabilities from the oversight body and public outrage have encouraged larger companies to have divergent boards in terms of gender.