Women on Board and Firm Export Attitudes: Evidence from Italy

The literature evaluating the impact of gender quotas in the firm's governing bodies has not yet come to an established consensus on their effects on corporate performance. We contribute to the literature by exploiting firm level data to assess whether the reform that introduced a gender-balancing quota on the boards of directors of Italian listed firms has had any impact on a variety of measures related to exports. Combining a difference-in-differences approach with propensity score matching, we find that the reform has increased the probability of exporting and the value of exports. Moreover, the reform has increased the probability of exporting a new product, while it has not reduced the exposure to volatile sectors. These results suggest that previously excluded women from leadership positions can bring valuable resources for operating in international markets, and challenge the view that female directors are more cautious in their risk-taking behavior as compared to their male counterparts.