Does Women’s Participation in Management Influence the Performance of Organizations?

Abstract

The study examined whether women’s participation in the management of organizations influences performance. Descriptive, documentary and quantitative research was carried out in a sample of 228 companies in 2011, 230 in 2012, 233 in 2013, 240 in 2014, 229 in 2015, 226 in 2016, and 223 in 2017. The performance was analyzed by four measures. Two are based on accounting: return on asset ratio (ROA) and return on equity (ROE); and two other market-based measures: market-to-book (MTB) and Tobin’s Q. As proxies for women’s participation in management, four variables were used: 1) dummy for the existence of women in CA; 2) dummy for most women counselors; 3) percentage of women in CA; 4) dummy for CA woman president. The results showed a variation in the companies’ performance. As for the participation of women in management, it is noteworthy that the number of companies that had women increased; although in less than 4% of the companies women are the majority on the boards. It was identified that the average percentage of women on the boards did not exceed 16%, and approximately 5% of the companies had women in the position of president of the board. Among the four variables that captured the participation of women in management, only the variable that captures the existence of women on the council was significant in relation to the MTB. Therefore, it was concluded that, in the investigated sample, female management influences only MTB.

Keywords

• participação das mulheres
• gestão das organizações
• desempenho