Unveiling gender disparities in corporate board career paths using deep learning

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Business Administration
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Gender disparities persist in corporate leadership roles.
• Professional networks significantly influence career progression.
• Understanding network dynamics is key to addressing leadership diversity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of professional networks in gender disparities for corporate board appointments.
• To analyze how networks enable or hinder gender diversity in leadership.
• To quantify the network differences between male and female board members.

Main Methods:

• Social network analysis applied to data from over 19,000 senior managers and board members in Canadian firms (2000-2022).
• Causal learning framework and long short-term memory (LSTM) models were utilized.
• Gender-specific personalized PageRank analysis to assess network influence.

Main Results:

• A 'glass-ceiling' effect was observed: women require wider and more influential networks than men for comparable leadership positions.
• Demographics and career paths being similar did not negate this disparity.
• Female-to-female connections play a vital role in supporting women's advancement.

Conclusions:

• Professional networks present both opportunities and barriers to gender diversity in corporate leadership.
• Inclusive networking and mentorship programs are essential to dismantle barriers.
• Addressing network-based disparities is crucial for equitable corporate governance.