Mari Teigen 6 The Making of Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards in Norway The gender quota reform for corporate boards, first adopted in Norway in 2003 and fully implemented from 2008, has had great repercussions. A wave of diffusion of corporate board quota legislation has swept across Europe, and some other parts of the world (Fagan et al., 2012; Teigen, 2012a and b; Armstrong & Walby, 2012; Terjesen & Lorenz, 2014).1 In Norway, as an effect of the reform, the presence of women in corporate boards has increased dramatically over the last 10 years – and gender balance is evolving in other countries, especially in those where gender balance policies have been introduced for corporate boards (EWL report, 2012). This chapter departs from the ongoing European processes of gender quotas for corporate boards being in the making, takes a step back and analyzes the starting point: the making of gender quotas for corporate boards in Norway. This reform constitutes an innovative, however at first controversial, legal regulation. No other country had prior to Norway even considered to regulate the gender composition of corporate boards. To some extent gender quotas for corporate boards are at odds with the Norwegian industrial relation system, with its relatively clear boundaries for state interventions in the governing of private capital. Thus on the one hand, the introduction of gender quotas for corporate boards breaks with the established institutionalization of relations between employers, employees and the state. On the other hand, gender quotas for corporate boards constitute an enlargement of the relatively strong gender equality institution in Norway. At heart of this chapter is the question of why the gender equality institution in this case trumped the established boundaries for state intervention in the governing of private capital. The purpose is to describe and explore the interplay of contextual factors and processes that in sum pushed towards the making of the gender quotas for corporate boards. The chapter addresses national preconditions and processes and addresses questions about how this reform fits with the Norwegian gender equality institution: what factors facilitated the policy process and what was the role of political agency? Theoretically the chapter lends itself to insights from historical institutionalism (Thelen, 1999, 2014), including perspectives of path dependency (Pierson, 2004) and gendered institutional analysis/feminist institutionalism (Waylen, 2014; Krizsnan et al., 2012; Mc Bride & Mazur, 2010). In the next section I present some theoretical perspectives mainly belonging to the historical institutional theory tradition. Subsequently I provide an account 1 Spain (2007), Iceland (2009), France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy (2011) and Germany (2014) have adopted gender quotas for corporate boards. Theoretical Perspectives 97 of the Norwegian legislation for gender quotas on corporate boards and show the development of gender balance on corporate boards over the last decade. The major part of the chapter presents an analysis of the main factors and processes in the making of gender quotas for corporate boards in Norway. In the final part I discuss how these different factors and processes interplayed in relation to three central topics in historical institutionalism: temporality, path dependency and policy agency. I conclude by reflecting upon the development of gender quotas for corporate boards in light of political quotas and thus close with a larger discussion about the demarcation of the political and the economic sphere. 6.1 Theoretical Perspectives Historical institutionalism offers approaches to investigate how and why institutional change occurs (Thelen, 2003; Mahoney & Thelen, 2010). Feminist institutionalism is a variant of historical institutionalism particularly concerned with gender outcome and institutional continuity and change in transitions to state feminism and institutionalizations of gender equality policy (Waylen, 2014). Discursive institutionalism emphasizes the role of ideas and discourse in politics (Schmidt, 2008). Historical institutionalism helps explain patterns of events by taking processes in time – history – seriously. The historical institutional perspective directs attention to the relationship between sequences, trajectories and contextual factors of importance to explain social, political and economic change and stability (Mahoney & Thelen, 2010). Stability and perpetuation are the basic traits of institutions and a main contribution of institutional theory concerns its exploration of mechanisms of stability. The fact that institutions are not always stable has been explained as the result of exogenous shocks and critical junctures. A limitation of this perspective is however that change becomes too closely tied to abrupt transitions. In contrast, Mahoney and Thelen (2010, pp. 5-7) call for a general model of institutional change that takes into account both exogenous and endogenous sources of change. They draw a framework for institutional change consisting of the political and institutional context as drivers of processes in interaction with change agents. The policy context, and in particular the notion of path dependency, is central for understanding the emergence and particular formulation of policy reforms. The notion of path dependence is often used to describe why a certain development is chosen over another. The emergence of a particular institutional arrangement becomes decisive for later reforms. Path dependence has, however, been defined by different degrees of precision – in a broad or a narrow sense, in a loose or a rigid way. Paul Pierson comments that as a consequence of the lack of rigidity we may end up with a concept lacking a clear meaning (2004, p. 10). In a socio-historical version path-dependent processes emerge and are embedded in concrete temporal processes interconnected 98 The Making of Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards in Norway with traditions, norms and expectations which drive processes in certain directions, while alternative routes would demand more thorough justifications and persuasion. Still, the main contribution of the notion of path dependence is the insistence on the significance of the order of events – on sequences and the temporal dimension of social processes (Pierson, 2000, 2004). Calling attention to the temporal context is important for understanding policy processes, as well as the role of policy agency. In this chapter the notion of path dependency is used to underscore that institutional and policy legacies are important to determine both change and continuity. The main point is to argue that there exists a policy legacy in Norway for solving “problems” of male dominance in decision-making by applying gender quota arrangements. The processes that led to the making of gender quotas for corporate boards in Norway are particularly interesting in regards to the way they bridge debates about gender balance in political and economic decision making. The institution studied in this chapter is the Norwegian gender the Norwegian gender equality policy institution, in particular, the regulation of gender balance in corporate boards. Simultaneously, this is to some extent also a study of the corporate board institution, where new regulations of gender representation have been included in the more general regulation of the corporate board institution. 6.2 A Note on the Data The analysis presented is based on all relevant documents from the political process, as well as other types of information, such as from the media debate. The most important documents are: 1) the consultation proposal on the revision of the Gender Equality Act, from the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs 19992, 2) the white paper from the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs: Proposition on reforms to the Gender Equality Act (2000-2001)3 3) the consultation proposal on gender representation in public limited companies, state limited companies and state businesses, etc. and the 2 Consultation proposal from the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs 1999. (Høring: Forslag til endringer i likestillingsloven, Barne og familiedepartementet, 1999). 3 http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/bld/dok/regpubl/otprp/20002001/otprp-nr-77-2000-2001-. html?id=123306, (08.05.2013). Proposition to parliament 77 (2000-2001), Ministry of Children and Fa- mily Affairs: Ot.prp. 77 (2000-2001), Om lov om endringer i likestillingsloven mv., Barne- og familie- departementet. National Preconditions and Processes 99 proposal to change the Companies Act and some other acts4, 4) White paper from the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs: Proposition on reforms to company legislation on gender representation in company boards.5 In-depth analyses of the first stages of the political process are provided in Teigen (2002), Evenrud (2010), Engelstad (2011) and Sørensen (2011). Cvijanovic (2009) provides an analysis of the media debate on the issue of gender quotas for corporate boards. Central aspects of deregulation policies were described in the government commission report (NOU 2000:19) on the privatization of public enterprises.6 6.3 National Preconditions and Processes The Norwegian gender quota legislation for corporate boards applies to a wide range of companies: the boards of public limited companies (PLC), inter-municipal companies7 and state enterprises.8 Cooperative companies9 and municipal companies10 were included from 2008 and 2009. The numerous private limited