Corporate Governance Principles and Gender Equality across Europe and Asia: Convergence and Diffusion

This paper aims to critically engage with the concepts of corporate quotas and gender equality. It compares and contrasts the application of such concepts within the EU legal framework and a number of Asia countries, including Malaysia and India. The paper assesses and reviews the increasing signs of regulatory convergence in this area. The paper starts by looking briefly at the theoretical basis for political quotas in general and then move on to the various justifications in favour of the introduction of corporate quotas. The EU proposed directive on corporate quotas (2012) serves as a basis for comparison with the Asian jurisdictions that also have introduced corporate quotas regulations. The specific cases of Malaysia and India are outlined as their corporate quotas legislations are nascent and comparable to that of the EU proposal. The comparative approach firstly provides an opportunity to contribute to the theory of diffusion and legal transplant. Secondly the degree of convergence of corporate governance principles provides an opportunity to consider and contrast the concept gender equality across Europe and Asia.