Many policies, but little impact: Corporate social reponsibility (CSR) and the gender gap

Research on the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) often neglects gender diversity as an outcome, while the literature on gender diversity as a predictor of CSR tends to focus on female representation at the top-managerial level. To address this gap, this analysis examines how responsible businesses can reduce the gender gap at work. The methodology is based on a quantitative design and a web-based questionnaire in a sample of 130 Latin American companies. Findings show that while CSR has no direct effect on closing the gender gap in organisations, it positively contributes to the implementation of gender-friendly strategies. Lower or more passive CSR-development levels have a negative impact on both, gender strategies and on the gender gap. While compliance-seeking companies are likely to increase the gender gap, self-protecting strategies such as those focusing on reputation and the social license to operate tend to block efforts to integrate gender issues as a part of the formal internal organisation. Finally, gender strategies such as awareness raising, and training targeting women were found to suppress the poor performance of compliance-seeking companies at reducing the gender gap.