Stock market response to women's active participation in Japan: an event study analysis on a disclosing policy

While the government encourages women's active participation in the economy, the evidence on the causal relationship of female participation to firm performance has been relatively unsupported in Japan. This study examines the short-term stock market response to a disclosure policy, i.e., the announcement of a collection of firms designated the “Nadeshiko Brand” that are considered to encourage women's involvement in business among the companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Our findings based on event study analysis reveal that the stock price responded positively and significantly to the Brand announcement in three of the 17 firms on a daily basis but the effect was temporary. Judging from these results, it can be said that overall the stock market did not respond to the announcement of Nadeshiko Brand.