Do Gender Quotas Change Attitudes towards Female Directors?

We study the long-term effect of gender quotas in India, the largest emerging market to mandate female directors on corporate boards. After the reform, female independent director appointments increase from less than 10% to over 30%. The marginal female director is of similar quality, as measured by education, specialization, and stock price reactions, as the marginal male director. Further, we find that the gender gap in director remuneration decreases from 18% to 3%. Overall, results suggest that gender quotas can deepen and diversify talent pools in emerging markets where lower corporate governance standards often impede board composition and director quality.