No Seat at the Table: How Corporate Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom (Critical America) (Paperback)

~ Douglas Branson (Author)
Key Phrases: good governance movement, trophy directors, bully broad, United States, Red Cross, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An interesting thesis, and one that makes sense"
- The New Republic

"This book should be read by anyone interested in advancing to the boardrooms in corporate America. . . . Branson provides interesting discussions on linguistic differences between males and females as well as gender differences in play, along with their implications for success in business. . . . Branson reveals how corporate governance practices hinder women’s career advancement and suggests strategies women should adopt to succeed in the corporate world . . . Highly recommended."
- Choice

"Packed with informative statistics about the presence of women at various levels of corporate governance — as CEOs, executive directors, managers, and in the pipeline."
- Nancy Levit, author of The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law

"Coming from the pen of a leading thinker in corporate law, this book provides a powerful — if disheartening — explanation for the lack of women on corporate boards. It is provocative, impeccably researched, and compellingly written."
- Kent Greenfield, Professor of Law and Zamparelli Scholar at Boston College Law School

"Professor Branson's book makes an important contribution to the study of women's advancement in the corporate hierarchy, combining startling statistics with well-informed insights. Using a rich pool of sources including linguistic theory, studies of group dynamics, and judicial opinions, Branson illustrates the speed-bumps that may impede a woman's rise to the top."
- Jayne W. Barnard, Cutler Professor of Law, The College of William & Mary

Product Description

Women are completing MBA and Law degrees in record high numbers, but their struggle to attain director positions in corporate America continues. Although explanations for this disconnect abound, neither career counselors nor scholars have paid enough attention to the role that corporate governance plays in maintaining the gender gap in America's executive quarters.

Mining corporate governance models applied at Fortune 500 companies, hundreds of Title VII discrimination cases, and proxy statements, Douglas M. Branson suggests that women have been ill-advised by experts, who tend to teach females how to act like their male, executive counterparts. Instead, women who aspire to the boardroom should focus on the decision-making processes nominating committees—usually dominated by white men—employ when voting on membership.

Filled with real-life cases, No Seat at the Table opens the closed doors of the boardroom and reveals the dynamics of the corporate governance process and the double standards that often characterize it. Based on empirical evidence, Branson concludes that women have to follow different paths than men in order to gain CEO status, and as such, encourages women to make flexible, conscious, and often frequent shifts in their professional behaviors and work ethics as they climb the corporate ladder.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814791050
• ISBN-13: 978-0814791059
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #920,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched and thought provoking look at an important social issue, June 10, 2007

By	Janet Ainsworth - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: No Seat at the Table: How Corporate Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom (Hardcover)

Corporate America has historically been a man's world. It has been a commonplace assumption that, as increasing numbers of women with the educational and professional skills needed to succeed in business began to climb the corporate ladder, women would inevitably assume their rightful share of high level positions in corporations. As this book demonstrates,this optimistic assumption has turned out to be untrue. Branson documents the continuing absence of women today in important positions in the corporate world, and then analyzes the reasons why this is still happening. He points both to legal rules and corporal cultural practices and policies that make it challenging for women to succeed at the highest level of corporate governance. In addition, he examines the social and cultural criteria that determine who will be seen as effective executives and who will not--criteria that make many women appear to be less qualified managers than they truly are. Branson suggests that changes in corporate culture and policies will be needed if American business is to successfully tap this underutilized talent pool. In a globalized world of increased competition, American business is ill-served by failing to maximize the contribution of this segment of the corporate work force.