Myths and Facts About Female Directors

Women in the workforce are key to healthy economies, but this does not mean that adding more women to the board will necessarily increase shareholder value or that the financial crisis would not have happened if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters. Negative stereotypes may be one reason women are underrepresented in management and on the boards. But are women better served if we promote them on the basis of positive stereotypes? In this paper, Renée Adams draws on current research to debunk popular myths about boardroom gender diversity