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The Reality of Women on the Boards of Directors of Brazilian Companies: Seeking Insight and Solutions

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Handbook on Well-Being of Working Women

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of the reality of women on the Boards of Directors of Brazilian companies. Based on the Human Capital Theory, we have analyzed the characteristics of education and professional experience of Brazilian female board members, as well as the gender composition of 410 publicly traded companies listed with BM&FBovespa, in 2011. Our results indicate that only 7.3 % of the BD seats in the companies sampled were occupied by women, indicating inequality of opportunities for women in the BDs of these companies. The study also showed that the main reason for female nominations to Brazilian BDs was not necessarily investments in human capital, but family ties with company owners, which was the case of 40 % of the women surveyed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. (NES) Núcleo de Educação Superior (Center/Nucleus for Higher Education), UNIVALI, Biguaçu, Brazil

    Kellen Lazzaretti

  2. (PPGA) Postgraduate Program in Administration, UNIVALI, Biguaçu, Brazil

    Christiane Kleinübing Godoi

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  1. Kellen Lazzaretti
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  2. Christiane Kleinübing Godoi
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Correspondence to Kellen Lazzaretti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management College of Business Administration, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA

    Mary L. Connerley

  2. Department of Management and Marketing School of Management, Rhode Island College, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Jiyun Wu

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Lazzaretti, K., Godoi, C.K. (2016). The Reality of Women on the Boards of Directors of Brazilian Companies: Seeking Insight and Solutions. In: Connerley, M., Wu, J. (eds) Handbook on Well-Being of Working Women. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9897-6_41

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9897-6_41

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9896-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9897-6

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