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Journal of Corporate Finance Vol. 71 2021

The role of employer learning and regulatory interventions in mitigating executive gender pay gap

Swarnodeep Homroy; Shibashish Mukherjee

University of Groningen

open access

Abstract

This paper examines the role of information and regulatory interventions in mitigating the executive gender pay gap. We find female executives receive about 34% less compared to equivalent males from the same cohort, which falls by half over tenure within the company, but remains systematically significant throughout. The gender pay gap is the highest for young female executives and in the financial sector. Both demand-side (board gender quotas) and supply-side (family policies) regulatory interventions are associated with a lower gender gap in executive pay. Board gender quotas are associated with lower gender pay gap for experienced female executives in the highest age bracket. In contrast, supply-side interventions are associated with lower gender pay gap for the youngest female executives. Our results have important implications for the relative effectiveness of public policies that aim to reduce gender imbalance in corporate leadership and pay.

DOI
10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101857
Volume
71
Pages
101857
Language
en
Sources
crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex

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