År 2006 införde Norge en kvoteringslag som stipulerar att minst 40 procent av styrelserna i börsbolag och statligt ägda bolag skulle vara av vardera könet. Har denna lag varit gynnsam för Norges kvinnor?

Den just publicerade studien ”Breaking the Glass Ceiling? The Effect of Board Quotas on Female Labour Market Outcomes in Norway” (preliminär gratisversion här) finner följande:

We document that the women appointed to these boards post-reform were observably more qualified than their female predecessors along many dimensions, and that the gender gap in earnings within boards fell substantially. However, we see no robust evidence that the reform benefited the larger set of women employed in the companies subject to the quota. Moreover, the reform had no clear impact on highly qualified women whose qualifications mirror those of board members but who were not appointed to boards. Finally, we find mixed support for the view that the reform affected the decisions of young women. While the reform was not accompanied by any change in female enrollment in business education programmes, we do see some improvements in labour market outcomes for young women with graduate business degrees in their early career stages; however, we observe similar improvements for young women with graduate science degrees, suggesting this may not be due to the reform. 

Det tycks alltså som om lagen har varit gynnsam för de kvinnor som har kunnat ta plats i styrelserna, men att den inte har lyckats generera några särskilt tydliga, allmänna fördelar för yrkesverksamma kvinnor.