Diversity and Leadership in the South Pacific: Intersectionality at Play on Fijian Boards of Directors

Research on boards and diversity has spanned several decades and generated a large amount of empirical findings and theoretical insights (Hillman, 2015; Johnson, Schnatterly, & Hill, 2013). Research on gender diversity, in particular, has drawn significant attention and generated vivid discussions in industry and academia. At the same time, researchers suggest that current conceptualizations and investigations of board diversity need to progress beyond gender (Mendiratta, 2019; Nielsen, 2012) and focus on other relevant attributes as well as on intersectionality of gender and other relevant characteristics (Bennouri, Chtioui, Nagati, & Nekhili, 2018; Nielsen & Huse, 2010). This chapter addresses this call by looking at the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity in the context of Fijian boards of directors. Moreover, by building upon insights of the cross-cultural and national differences in gender diversity, we explore how the specificities of the context of the South Pacific, and Fiji in particular, influence the gender and ethnic composition of boards.