1.5.3 Gender equality and women’s underrepresentation

In addition to equality of opportunity that is reflected in liberal feminism, gender equality in this dissertation also includes gender equality in outcome, otherwise known as substantive equality, which requires that women and men participate equally in public life.1^,2 Within the context of this dissertation, this means that gender equality is achieved when there is a gender equal representation of 50 percent women and men in the corporate top of companies.3

Notably, in Chapter 4, the terms gender diversity and gender equality are both used. It is understood that gender diversity is relevant for achieving gender equality. Furthermore, this term was used, because in the research underpinning this chapter the term diversity was used in the Dutch Corporate Governance Code (the Code). This term was also used in the questionnaire for the empirical study described in Chapter 4.

Within the context of this dissertation, the underrepresentation of women refers to all situations in which there is no equal representation of women and men in terms of equality of outcome (gender equality), i.e., a 50-50 percent representation of women and men.