Gender Diversity-Dutch Case Study

Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute

Discussion Paper Series nr: 10-03

Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Dutch and Danish Boardrooms

Joana Marinova Janneke Plantenga Chantal Remery

Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute Utrecht School of Economics Utrecht University Janskerkhof 12 3512 BL Utrecht The Netherlands telephone +31 30 253 9800 fax +31 30 253 7373 website www.koopmansinstitute.uu.nl The Tjalling C. Koopmans Institute is the research institute and research school of Utrecht School of Economics. It was founded in 2003, and named after Professor Tjalling C. Koopmans, Dutch-born Nobel Prize laureate in economics of 1975. In the discussion papers series the Koopmans Institute publishes results of ongoing research for early dissemination of research results, and to enhance discussion with colleagues. Please send any comments and suggestions on the Koopmans institute, or this series to J.M.vanDort@uu.nl

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Joana Marinova Janneke Plantenga Chantal Remery Utrecht University Utrecht School of Economics Janskerkhof 12 3512 BL Utrecht The Netherlands. E-mail: c.l.h.s.remery@uu.nl

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Utrecht School of Economics Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute Discussion Paper Series 10-03

Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Dutch and Danish Boardrooms

Joana Marinova Janneke Plantenga Chantal Remery

Utrecht School of Economics Utrecht University January 2010

Abstract Drawing on the business case for gender diversity, this article examines whether board gender diversity has a positive effect on firm performance, based on evidence from the Netherlands and Denmark. We use empirical data on 186 listed firms observed in 2007, of which 102 Dutch and 84 Danish. Of these firms, almost 40% have at least one woman in the...