Does gender diversity affect nonperforming loans? International evidence from microfinance institutions

Abstract

The paper uses the data on 1212 microfinance institutions in 106 developing countries to document the impact of gender diversity on boards and gender diversity among borrowers on nonperforming loans (NPLs) during the period 2010–2018. The results show that microfinance institutions with a higher proportion of female borrowers have fewer NPLs than otherwise similar microfinance institutions with a lower proportion of female borrowers. Regarding female board members, the results show no relationship between the proportion of female board members and NPLs. The findings remain qualitatively the same after several sensitivity checks. We also show that characteristics specific to microfinance institutions moderate the relationship between gender diversity and NPLs.

Keywords

• Board of directors
• Borrowers
• Default risk
• Developing countries
• Gender gap
• Microfinance institutions