A new report from the Credit Suisse Research Institute provides further evidence of a link between gender diversity and corporate performance.
That report — “The Credit Suisse Gender 3000: The Reward for Change” — found that companies with at least one female director had generated higher returns for investors at a compound annual growth rate of 3.5 percent over the prior decade. That’s up from 3.3 percent in the 2014 report.
The biannual reports are based on analysis of the Credit Suisse Gender 3000, a database that encompasses 27,000 senior managers at more than 3,000 companies worldwide covered by Credit Suisse financial analysts.
Stefano Natella, head of global markets research at Credit Suisse, notes is a Credit Suisse statement:
“Gender diversity in both board and particularly senior management positions is a tremendous benefit to companies and their shareholders. … The data shows that there is a strong correlation between companies with high levels of diversity in management and their performance.”
The latest report also found that gender diversity is increasing in boardrooms globally. The percentage of women on executive boards at the surveyed companies rose from 12.7 percent at the end of 2013 to 14.7 at the end of 2015. That’s a 16 percent increase in two years and reflects a 54 percent increase since 2010.
The top five countries with the highest percentage of women on corporate boards:
- Norway (46.7 percent)
- France (34 percent)
- Sweden (33.6 percent)
- Italy (30.8 percent)
- Finland (30.8 percent)
The U.S. ranks slightly above average, with women comprising 16.6 percent of corporate boards as of last year.
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