This paper focuses on two of the highly debated social issues corporations that are pressured to address—gender equality and workplace discrimination. Countries around the world mandate gender quotas on corporate boards to facilitate firms in addressing the issue of gender equality and anti-discrimination legislations to address workplace discrimination. Gender diversity on the corporate boards can sway the board toward addressing more to the society and the environment—the external stakeholders of the firm. However, firms' social responsibilities extend to the internal stakeholders. We explore the effect female directors on corporate policies regarding a group of internal stakeholders—lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees and find firms with gender diverse boards that are more likely to adopt LGBT-supportive policies. Our findings are consistent with the social role theory. Hence, firms should promote board gender diversity to encourage and facilitate inclusive workplace environment, eventually leading to sustainability in firms.

中文翻译：

---

董事会性别多元化是否会改善女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别员工的福利？

本文重点关注企业面临的两个备受争议的社会问题——性别平等和工作场所歧视。世界各国都在公司董事会中规定性别配额，以促进公司解决性别平等问题和反歧视立法，以解决工作场所的歧视问题。公司董事会的性别多样性可以影响董事会更多地关注社会和环境——公司的外部利益相关者。然而，公司的社会责任延伸到内部利益相关者。我们探讨了女性董事对公司内部利益相关者群体（女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别 (LGBT) 员工）政策的影响，并发现拥有性别多元化董事会的公司更有可能采用支持 LGBT 的政策。我们的研究结果与社会角色理论一致。因此，公司应促进董事会性别多元化，以鼓励和促进包容的工作环境，最终实现公司的可持续性。