Board of men

WE recently concluded a study on gender diversity on boards of regional public-listed companies (PLCs), and were invited to a global event to share our findings. We conducted our research by analysing PLCs that represent 70% of the market capitalisation in each of the five Asean countries, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as in Hong Kong.

First, the good news. We found that PLCs with more women directors had better returns on equity (ROE) or stock prices versus their respective market indices. Our study suggested that such women contributed positively, and in various ways, to the performance of a company.