Board Gender Composition and Environmental Decoupling: International Evidence

ABSTRACT The extant literature focuses on the role of female directors in managerial opportunism and environmental sustainability. However, the influence of female directors on decision‐making, and whether firms' environmental talk and actions reconcile to reduce the gap between environmental performance and external environmental disclosures, remains unknown. We examine whether board gender diversity affects environmental decoupling using data from firms listed in 43 countries between 2006 and 2023. We find that board gender diversity significantly reduces environmental decoupling, with the effect becoming stronger as female representation on boards increases. Our analysis further identifies regulatory stringency and legal origin as important institutional factors shaping female directors' ability to challenge opaque environmental practices. The findings remain robust across alternative samples, econometric specifications, alternate proxies, and identification strategies. This study offers new insights into the role of board gender diversity in promoting environmental accountability and advances the broader debate on external stakeholder engagement.