Does Board Gender Diversity Impact Firm Performance in China’s SOEs?

Given gender equality importance, we find that more female directors are significantly associated with better Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) performance. Instrumental variables analysis shows that board gender diversity (BGD) is positively and significantly related to SOEs’ performance through profitability and operational efficiency. Using instruments and splitting ownership, we find that jointly BGD and central (local) state ownership significantly and positively affect firm performance through profitability and operational efficiency (profitability and capital structure only marginally). Robustness tests with sample selection, additional control, and alternative instruments confirm our results. Female directors outperform their male counterparts, supporting agency, double standards, and upper echelons theories.