This book provides a cross-national European comparative analysis of the presence and absence of women on the board of directors of companies. It asks whether a welfare state regime analysis is useful at this elite level as a way of understanding employment practices or whether state policy gives way to more universal and globalized factors.

This book examines the international trends and associated developments in gender equality policy including corporate governance such as gender quotas. International comparative analysis is combined with detailed analysis of eight European countries with different policy regimes and trajectories.