ABSTRACT

Gender quotas are being introduced in countries across Europe as to combat under representation of women in upper-level management and also to introduce more ethical concerns to corporate decision-making processes. This chapter discusses some of the implications of this trend on the development of professional identities of women aspiring to leadership positions in firms. It summarizes recent literature on women and leadership and on role models, and introduces another avenue of research concerning women on corporate boards, which has tended to focus on corporate strategies for meeting quota guidelines and the impact of quotas on firm performance. The chapter reviews the literature on role models and their impact in shaping work identities specifically for women in organizations. It also discusses the potential impact of gender quotas on construction of professional identity for women aspiring to leadership positions. The chapter also explains that the next step for the gender quota met work on the number of female executive members.