  In many countries, the representation of women on corporate boards of
directors has become a topic of intense political debate. Social networking
plays a crucial role in the appointment to a board so that an informed debate
requires knowing where women are located in the network of directors. One way
to quantify the network is by studying the links created by serving on the same
board and by joint appointments on multiple boards. We analyse a network of
$\approx 320\,000$ board members of $36\,000$ companies traded on stock
exchanges all over the world, focusing specifically on the position of women in
the network. Women only have $\approx 9-13\%$ of all seats, but they are not
marginalised. Applying metrics from social network analysis, we find that their
influence is close to that of men. We do not find evidence to support previous
claims that women play the role of "queen bees" that exclude other women from
similar positions.
