Gender diversity on Australian company boards

The primary objective of this thesis is to provide empirical evidence of the contribution of female directors on corporate financial performance and company risk management practices in an Australian context. This thesis is based on three separate but implicitly related research studies. Study One provides a descriptive analysis of the gender compositions on Australian company boards and the changing female director representation during the years from 2001 to 2010. Study Two investigates the association between female director representation and corporate financial performance. Finally, Study Three examines the association between female directors and company risk management practices. The results of Study One provide general information on female director representation on Australian company boards and a detailed description of female directors from a general, industry, corporate and individual perspective. Both Study Two and Study Three provide strong statistical evidence of female directors’ contributions to the corporate financial performance and company risk management practices of Australian companies. Based on the results of the association between female directors and corporate financial performance, it is found that a gender diverse board can be associated with enhanced corporate financial performance and simultaneously, that companies with better market-based financial performance are more likely to have higher female director representation. In terms of the association between female directors and company risk management practices, it can be concluded that companies with higher female director representation are more likely to have better risk management practices. The thesis contributes to the research literature and theory in the area of female directors’ contributions in company decision-making processes. The findings of this thesis also provide empirical evidence and valuable insights for practice and policy. The findings are supportive of corporate governance proposals advocating greater gender diversity on company boards. Consequently the thesis is relevant to both company boards and corporate policy regulators as they shed further light on the benefits associated with increasing female director representation.