More Guys than the Guys: Sexed Reproduction of Corporate Elites

As several wealthier nations endeavor increase women’s representation in corporate elites, including through corporate board quotas (“CBQ”s), some proponents expect corporate elites to change, thinking that if women ruled the world, corporations might take a benevolent turn. However, corporate elites, largely male, reproduce themselves through highly networked systems. This paper explores how corporate elite reproduction (“CER”) will change as women increasingly populate these elite positions.Corporate board quotas render sex binaries a de rigeur feature of European legal regimes, demanding an analysis of whether quotas shift gender performativity in CER both toward and possibly even away from binarist performances. This paper will draw examples of gender performance in the board context from an empirical study that I conducted on the French CBQ. Through disaggregating bodies from roles and the multiple and conflicting meanings of “women” in the construction of a female corporate elite, this paper will argue that women’s inclusion may simply reify CER, although in certain relatively minor respects, it may interrupt CER.