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Em5k's avatar

Is there a study specifically showing which specific industries board membership (beyond the null hypothesis that):

1. Benefits from gender diversity? And why just women? Are there no improvements from LGBTQ?

2. Does not benefit from gender diversity - either gender-neutral or perhaps requiring a different diversification?

3. Benefits from racial diversity/cultural diversity?

4. Benefits from other kinds of diversification?

I have no issue with the results you show if indeed data supports it, but I am concerned that data is viewed only under one prism and it reduces the differentiation to gender, rather than perhaps other factors that sometimes gender does affect but sometimes do not.

Even if the board members are women, would certain women be more contributory than others depending on the industry?

Just as an extreme example, I remember this quote I read in grade school but cannot remember who said it. It goes something like this (paraphrased) "Mothers should be the signatories of the declaration of war".

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Very Me . .'s avatar

Totally disagree. Aside from giving encouraging figures you are using terms like "small but insignificant". Anecdotal evidence aside, i find (and many men have noticed the same thing) that once you pass a certain male to female ratio in a company (33% female typically), the company starts to adopt a more female oriented mindset, which kills performance. The same applies to the boards. It is a signal for high performers to leave and pursue more rewarding endeavours. Also last i checked, less risk taking also leads to less innovation and lower performance and adaptability over time, not sure how that is a good argument. And finally, if you have to "force diversity" through quotas then that is a serious problem. It means we are giving power to people who otherwise under fairer circumstances would not have risen, great way to kill meritocracy in the name of social engineering.

I typically read all your articles the day they are published, this one has disappointed me though.

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