1.5.2 (Dutch) Companies

This dissertation focuses on public limited liability companies and private limited liability companies as defined by Dutch law. The research does not focus on other legal entities, such as associations and foundations. For the sake of this research, a limited liability company is understood to be a company with legal personality and a capital divided into shares. The shareholders are not personally liable for any losses of the company, except for the amount of capital they invested in the company.1 The difference between a public limited liability company and a private limited liability company is that a public limited liability company can have its shares listed on a stock exchange, which is not the case for a private limited liability company.2 The research focuses on public and private limited liability companies, because these companies are mostly targeted by gender quotas and are structured similarly in terms of corporate governance.

The research investigates primarily Dutch companies. For this research Dutch companies are defined as companies that are incorporated in the Netherlands and have an active business in the Netherlands (e.g., they do not, for instance, have a holding company incorporated in the Netherlands for tax purposes only).