Companies with women board members score better among investors

Berlin, March 14: In a new study, companies with women on their supervisory board are valued more highly by the stock markets, especially if they made it to the top without a gender quota.

Researchers have also found that investors rate their performance as being better than that of their male peers.

Economists from Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Hong Kong studied share price development of companies following the exit of top managers due to death or illness in 50 different countries. In 30,000 different cases where there were no gender of quota requirements between 1998 and 2010.

Surprisingly, share prices fell by 2% on average, following the sudden departure of a woman director. In cases where a woman was replaced by a man, there was a greater drop of 3%.

Daniel Urban of Technical University of Munich said,"Women who have reached the highest management level without the help of a mandatory gender quota therefore contribute more value to a firm than their male peers."

It was, however, found that shareholders did not value women per se. But actually judge the performance of the Board and the supervisory executive.

OneIndia News