The gender legislation enacted around the world has put enormous pressure on companies to increase the number of women on their boards. Employing US firm-specific data, we document a significant negative relationship between CEO-director ties and female representation on the board, suggesting that socially connected directors are detrimental to gender parity in senior management. We find that the situation improves in firms with female directors with valuable attributes while being moderated by CEO characteristics. Cross-sectional analyses reveal that the association is more pronounced during the low board gender diversity periods and for firms that are led by male CEOs or have weak monitoring mechanism. We rule out endogeneity concerns by performing a battery of analyses. The findings remain robust in a range of sensitivity tests. Our study offers practical implications for regulators and top management teams to improve board effectiveness, thus engendering lasting transformational change in the boardroom.

世界各地颁布的性别立法给公司带来了巨大的压力，要求它们增加董事会中的女性人数。利用美国公司的具体数据，我们记录了首席执行官与董事的关系与董事会中女性代表之间的显着负相关关系，这表明具有社会关系的董事不利于高级管理层的性别平等。我们发现，在拥有具有宝贵特质的女性董事的公司中，情况有所改善，同时受到首席执行官特征的调节。横断面分析显示，这种关联在董事会性别多元化程度较低的时期以及由男性首席执行官领导或监督机制薄弱的公司中更为明显。我们通过进行一系列分析来排除内生性问题。该研究结果在一系列敏感性测试中仍然可靠。我们的研究为监管机构和高层管理团队提高董事会效率提供了实际意义，从而在董事会中产生持久的转型变革。