Voices of Women in Boards Count, Effective Participation Counts More: A Board Gender Diversity Theoretical Framework

This paper seeks to contribute to the board gender diversity debate by introducing a tool to capacitate women for effective and impactful board participation. The tool was developed using principal component analysis and incorporated the conceptual domain of board gender diversity and the lived experiences of board participants in South Africa. To validate the instrument, interviews were conducted with 19 participants from the boards of companies from three industry sectors; namely; oil and gas, mining and pharmaceutical sectors. The instrument was then completed by 193 respondents from the three sectors. The newly developed tool was found to be a 16-item tool with five dimensions named as: (1) valuability; (2) distinctiveness and confidence; (3) technical expertise; (4) worldly wisdom; and (5) industry and leadership experience. The tool introduced should be seen as a practical reference point to prepare women for effective board participation.