The under-representation of women on boards is a heavily discussed topic – not only in Germany. Based on critical mass theory and with the help of a hand-collected panel data set of 151 listed German firms for the years 2000-2005, we explore whether the link between gender diversity and firm...

We assess the role of women in bank boardrooms in a sample of 461 large banks from OECD countries. After controlling for bank and country specific effects, we find that women's participation in boardrooms, both presence and percentage, has a positive influence on the return equity, the return on...