Bahraini Women's Voices in the Boardroom

Why should boards appoint members who are women? Do women contribute positively to the effectiveness of the board? Or, are they just appointed to boost the firm's image of fulfilling their quota? In recent years, board gender diversity has become an important issue around the world, where studies show that the inclusion of female directors is positively related to their financial performance of firms, their organizational effectiveness, and corporate governance. By applying gender perspectives to the boardrooms, new dimensions, knowledge, abilities, and experience are brought to the table. This chapter offers a contribution to the literature review by extending the studies on corporate governance and gender diversity as well as shedding the light on this relationship in the context of a non-western country, Bahrain, where women must abide by the traditional roles they play in the society. However, contradictory to expectations, the results indicate the number of females on the board has a negative relationship with firm performance, especially with return on assets (ROA).