IDLab Seminar: Gender "Bonus" and Invisible Barriers in Russian Corporate Boards

On March 20, 2026, the International Laboratory of Intangible-driven Economy (IDLab) held its regular research seminar. Research Assistant Valeriia Fedorova presented a report titled "Gender Differences in the Results of Voting for Candidates to the Board of Directors of Russian Companies". The study was co-authored by Marina Zavertiaeva (Senior Research Fellow at IDLab), Dmitrii Kirpishchikov (Junior Research Fellow at IDLab), Anastasiia Kireecheva (Research Assistant at IDLab), and Polina Pulinets.

The issue of gender diversity in corporate governance remains a pressing topic worldwide, yet it possesses a unique character in Russia. While women hold approximately 23% of board seats globally, this figure stood at 14% for Russian companies in 2023. This study aims to determine whether such a low level of female involvement in corporate boards results from objective differences in candidate characteristics or from implicit shareholder bias.

The empirical basis of the research consists of voting results from companies included in the Moscow Exchange Broad Market Index (MOEXBMI) from 2007 to 2021. To "deconstruct" the gender gap into its components, the authors employed the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method. This allowed them to identify the difference in the share of votes received by board candidates that is attributable solely to gender. Additionally, the study utilizes quantile regression to examine which candidate characteristics prove significant at various levels of the total vote share.

The results of the analysis confirmed a systematic advantage for men, who receive, on average, 0.6 percentage points more votes. The researchers found that this gap is driven by two factors. The first is a specific "male bonus" (0.34 p.p.) — an advantage not directly linked to observable professional qualities like knowledge or experience. The second factor is a difference in the valuation of achievements: it appears that for identical characteristics (e.g., prestigious education or years of experience), shareholders "assign" more votes to men than to women. In other words, a male professional background is perceived as more substantial by voters than equivalent competencies held by female candidates.

Of particular interest is a finding made using quantile regression: the gender gap becomes most pronounced at the "upper quantiles" of voting. Thus, among the most sought-after candidates who secure a high share of votes, the disparity between the results of men and women is most visible.

During the discussion, seminar participants addressed the technical nuances of vote counting. Specifically, suggestions were made to use the absolute number of votes rather than just percentages as a robustness check, and to account for the specific distribution of board seats. Such an approach would allow for an even more precise distinction between the impact of individual skills and institutional factors in Russian corporate governance.