Board Gender Diversity, Female Expertise, and Female Internationalization: Exploring Influences on the Readability of Sustainability Reporting

ABSTRACT This study investigates how female representation on boards and CSR committees, along with expertise and internationalization, influences the readability of sustainability reports. Using a dataset of Spanish firms from 2018 to 2022, the results show that a greater female presence on sustainability committees reduces lexical complexity in reports. The findings also reveal that female industry expert directors enhance report readability, while female support specialist directors do not. Furthermore, female education and international business experience positively impact readability by lowering linguistic complexity. These results underline the importance of female representation on boards and highlight how the experience, expertise, and internationalization of female directors are critical factors in improving the clarity of sustainability reporting.