In the year since my colleague Fabrice Houdart wrote that LGBTQ+ inclusion in the boardroom is simply good governance, the board diversity landscape has heated up, become more complex, and provided glimpses into what the future may hold in this interesting area of corporate governance. Below are a few key themes that I expect will characterize the board diversity landscape.

When attention is focused board diversity can increase quickly, but the gains may be narrow. Much of the action on corporate board diversity over the past few years has been catalyzed by legislative action (notably in California, where two laws aimed at board diversity were struck down this spring, but not before leaving their mark) and the national reckoning on racial justice, both serving as wake-up calls for many corporations.

The impact of California’s landmark 2018 legislation requiring gender diversity on the boards of public companies headquartered in the state has been stunning. In 2018, nearly one-third of public company boards in California were composed of all men. According to the most recent report from the California Partners Project, today fewer than 2 percent are. In addition, women hold 32 percent of public company board seats in California, double the number of seats held in 2018. In 2022, two-thirds of California public companies have three or more women directors—six times as many as in 2018. However, progress has been uneven. For example, although California’s population is nearly 20 percent Latino, a recent report by the Latino Corporate Directors Association found that between the September 30, 2020 enactment of California’s AB 979 legislation, the second board diversity law, and the end of 2021, the share of California public company board seats held by Latinos grew by only one percentage point, to 3 percent of California’s public company board seats.

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