Female Directors, Board Committees and Firm Performance
50 Pages Posted: 3 Dec 2016 Last revised: 18 Nov 2017
Date Written: October 12, 2017
Abstract
A number of studies have found little economic impact of board gender diversity on firm performance. We return to this issue in the context of large European firms. Our contribution is twofold. First, using information on the gender of CEOs children as a source of exogenous variation in female director appointments, we demonstrate robust positive association of female board representation on firm performance. Second, while previous work has considered female representation broadly, we focus on membership of board committees as a proxy for active involvement in corporate governance. We demonstrate economically meaningful positive effect on performance of female representation on board committees. Our evidence is supportive of the economic rationale for increased female representation on corporate boards.
Keywords: Gender, Diversity, Firm Performance, Board Committees
JEL Classification: G30, G34, J16
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation