Women on managing boards – are companies more responsible when women take a piece of power?

Resumen

Gender equality, also known as gender egalitarianism, is the view that each andevery one should receive identical treatment and not be discriminated against based on theirgender. This is one of the purposes of the United Nations Universal Declaration of HumanRights, which seeks to create equality in law and in social situations, such as in democraticactivities and securing equal pay for equal work.Lately more and more companies adapt conception of gender equality as a part of responsiblebusiness in their activity, that is shown in different indexes, statistics and reports. One of themis RobecoSAM Sustainability Yearbook, that includes the world’s largest companies invitedto participate in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment. From this report we took IndustryMovers as our research sample, that next is compared to the biggest companies in Poland. Wewant to prove that presence of women at managing boards of “industry movers” essentiallydiffers them from other boards and influences their philosophy on the market.To conduct this research we use comparative analysis method, as well statistical diversityindexes, that is supported by research on roles of management board, masculine and femininestyles of management and political and social background of women`s situation on labourmarket in Poland. The article shows a work in progress, but first results proves that IndustryMovers companies differ significantly from Polish companies if number of women onmanaging boards is considered.