Gender Diversity in Nomination Committee: A Way to Promote Gender Balance on Board?

The promotion of gender balance within corporate boards is considered one of the tools to support the gender diversity in the society as a whole. This paper would be a first step of a research project about the future of women on boards when the Italian L.120/2011, which imposes gender quotas in corporate governance bod-ies, will expire. In particular, the analysis focuses on the current board composition of the Italian-listed companies, with a particular focus on the nomination commit-tee. The main tasks of this committee are the assessment of the board composition and the proposal of candidates for board positions; therefore, it could have an important role in the promotion of more balanced board with regard to gender in the absence of binding rules. This paper aims first to fill the existing gap in the literature about the role of nomination committee for gender-balanced boards, also with regard to different industries. Furthermore, it is a starting point for future researches extended to other countries, with potential practical implications, suggesting regula-tors to focus their attention on committees’ composition, not only with regard to number and status of independence but also with regard to gender.