Fortune 500 Board Diversity Directly Linked to Business Success

Catalyst, a non-profit advisory group working toward inclusivity in business, released the results of a study where it looked at the relationship between women's representation in corporate-officer positions and board-of-director positions in the U.S. Fortune 500 companies. The results leave no doubt that including women in the boardroom has a direct effect on business performance. As reported in Canada's Financial Post some of their findings include:

On average, companies with the highest representation of women in corporate-officer positions financially outperformed those with the lowest representation. In fact, return on equity was 35.1% higher. Total return to shareholders was 34% higher

The numbers jumped for women serving as directors on Fortune 500 boards. On average, return on equity was 53% higher for those boards with a high representation of women than those with the least women; return on sales was 42% higher; and return on invested capital was 66% higher

So in these don't-say-the-R-word times, when shareholders are clamoring for solutions, perhaps one smart step would be to reach out to a couple of female board members. The numbers certainly add up.
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