IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 790 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that corporations should 

commit to utilizing the benefits of gender diversity in boards of directors 

and other senior management positions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 17, 2023 

Mr. BEYER (for himself and Ms. MACE) submitted the following resolution 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

corporations should commit to utilizing the benefits of 

gender diversity in boards of directors and other senior 

management positions. 

Whereas Catalyst, a non-profit and non-partisan organization, found in their 2020 report entitled ‘‘Women on Corporate Boards’’ that women are 56 percent of the labor 

force, yet only account for 30 percent of board directors 

of S&P 500 companies, and another Catalyst report entitled ‘‘Women CEOs of the S&P 500’’ found that women 

accounted for only 6 percent of all CEOs in 2020; 

Whereas a McKinsey report entitled ‘‘Women in the Workplace’’ published in 2021, found that women of color conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:25 Nov 01, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR790.IH HR790

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•HRES 790 IH 

tinue to have even lower representation at every level of 

corporate employment and leadership; 

Whereas the Sadie Collective’s paper titled ‘‘Why are Black 

Women Missing from Corporate Leadership?’’ published 

in November 2020 showed that the number of Black 

women completing degrees in economics, finance, accounting, and math fields is declining, which are often 

fields associated with corporate leadership; 

Whereas such study found that measures to remove barriers 

to the pipeline of corporate leadership for Black women 

in male-dominated fields include access to information, 

earlier education, and exposure to female mentors; 

Whereas The American Economic Association’s study entitled 

‘‘AEA Profession Climate Survey: Final Report’’ published in September 2019 found that women, especially 

Black women, had to take the most measures to avoid 

possible harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment, 

hindering efforts to climb the corporate ladder; 

Whereas an Egon Zehnder study entitled ‘‘Global Board Diversity Tracker: Who’s Really on Board?’’ published in 

December 2020, showed that companies with more diverse executive teams and boards of directors perform 

better financially; 

Whereas such study showed that women directors contribute 

to important corporate-level outcomes because they play 

roles as leaders and mentors, as well as indirect roles as 

symbols of opportunity for other women, and inspire 

those women to achieve and stay with their corporations; 

Whereas such study found that more recognition of the valuable contribution of women directors to corporation value 

is needed; 


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•HRES 790 IH 

Whereas such study showed that corporations need a critical 

mass of at least 3 women serving on boards of directors 

with average membership of 11 individuals to access the 

benefits of diversity for overall organizational performance and prevent the negative impacts of tokenism on 

leadership teams; 

Whereas a Harvard Business study entitled ‘‘An Institutional 

Approach to Gender Diversity and Firm Performance’’ 

published in 2019 found that increased gender diversity 

results in more productive companies in terms of market 

value and revenue; 

Whereas Credit Suisse’s global research study entitled ‘‘CS 

Gender 3000’’ published in October 2019 reviewed 3,000 

corporations worldwide to find that women serving on 

corporate boards improved corporation performance with 

respect to key metrics, including stock performance, and 

that companies with a higher proportion of women senior 

managers demonstrated returns on investment that were 

both higher and more stable overall; 

Whereas such study found that corporations with women 

serving as directors tend to be somewhat risk-averse and 

carry less debt, on average, compared to corporations 

with no women directors, and that net income growth for 

such corporations was also higher; and 

Whereas a Stanford University study entitled ‘‘Do Investors 

Value Gender Diversity in Firms?’’ released in 2019 

found that investors react positively to substantive increases in gender diversity with a significant increase in 

stock prices following corporate announcements regarding 

increased diversity, demonstrating the economic consequences of increased diversity: Now, therefore, be it 


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•HRES 790 IH 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the citizens of the United States have a sig4 nificant stake in promoting robust, sustainable eco5 nomic growth; 

6 (2) such growth will be strengthened and accel7 erated by the ever-fuller inclusion of women in the 

8 United States workforce, at all levels of corporate 

9 management; and 

10 (3) corporations in the United States should 

11 undertake a commitment to ever-fuller utilization of 

12 the talents, skills, and work ethic of women on 

13 boards of directors and in other senior management 

14 positions. 

Æ 


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