observations suggest that there was limited overall impact on women’s role in the workplace, beyond women appointed to boards.

Firm‐level financial outcomes of the quota are mixed. There is a negative relationship between women on the board and firm value. However, this may be due to the changing profile of directors on aspects other than gender. A review also found that following the implementation of the quota, the percentage of both men and women with multiple directorships increased.

**Lessons learned:** Using non‐compliance penalties ensured that firms would meet quotas within the time horizon. However, the short six‐month deadline to comply may have made it difficult to find sufficiently qualified and experienced female board directors. The quotas also did not appear to have meaningful broader impact on women’s role in the workplace in Norway.

- 4.2.2.2 Anti‐discrimination legislation

Gender discrimination in pay and promotion can impact female labor participation, opportunities, and wages. However, it is difficult to assess the impact since gender differences in pay and promotion are challenging to definitively attribute to discrimination as opposed to unobserved differences between men and women. Anti‐discrimination legislation makes it illegal for firms to discriminate against employees or prospective employees based on their gender.

Many countries have introduced gender‐specific anti‐discrimination laws that have had success in lowering the gender pay gap (including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), which in turn stimulates female labor force participation.<sup>93</sup> A 2014 World Bank Group study found that introducing non‐discrimination in hiring laws led to a positive effect on female employment, relative to male employment, with a greater effect in richer countries, as well as in smaller firms.<sup>94</sup> According to the OECD, policies to improve gender discrimination enforcement should include the following features:<sup>95</sup>

- **Increasing awareness of legal rights for equal treatment** . While public awareness of anti‐ discrimination laws is low in the majority of OECD countries (less than 50 percent in most countries), in several countries national equality bodies have conducted information campaigns.

- **Setting the right incentives** . A strong burden‐of‐proof framework can encourage discrimination claims before courts while minimizing the risk of unjustified claims.

- **Empowering national equality bodies to conduct formal investigations** on their own initiative (without an individual, specific complaint) can increase employers’ awareness of discrimination issues and help encourage potential victims of discrimination to come forward.

- **Providing alternative resolution mechanisms** , such as mediation and conciliation procedures, can reduce barriers to enforcing legal rights by avoiding court proceedings.

> 93 Jaumotte, “Female Labour Force Participation: Past Trends and Main Determinants in OECD Countries.”

> 94 Mohammad Amin and Asif Islam, “Does Mandating Nondiscrimination in Hiring Practices Influence Women’s Employment?” (World Bank Group, October 2014),

> http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/~/media/GIAWB/EnterpriseSurveys/Documents/ResearchPapers/Does‐Mandating‐ Nondiscrimination‐Influence‐Women‐Employment.pdf.

> 95 Elborgh‐Woytek et al., “Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains From Gender Equity.”

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