Women on Board and Firm Performance

Abstract

This chapter aims to measure the relationship between the number of women in the board of directors and company performance in the listed companies in Bahrain Bourse. The study uses panel data where the data is collected from the investor's guide in Bahrain Bourse and the annual reports from the listed companies from 2013 to 2017. The sample of the study includes 39 listed companies; the independent variable is the number of women in the board of directors in each company, which was measured using dummy variables; and the dependent variable is the company performance, which was measured using two measurement models driven from previous studies: accounting measurement (return on assets) and market measurement (Tobin's Q). The study also utilizes three control variables in order to help measuring the relationship between the number of women in the board of directors and company performance. The study concludes that there is a positive correlation between the number of women in the board of directors and the company's ROA and Tobin's Q.