Does Workforce Gender Diversity Affect Firm Productivity in India?

ABSTRACT The relationship between workforce gender diversity and firm productivity is a long‐standing issue in economic literature. The institutional and social factors make India as a unique case for examining this issue. But despite having an abundant labor force, evidence from India is rare. Drawing upon a firm level panel data, spanning from 2017 to 2022, this study provides new evidence on relationship between workforce gender diversity and firm productivity in India where the former has a significant positive association with the latter. In particular, this relationship demonstrates a non‐linear pattern and is more prevalent in the service sector. Several robustness checks validate these findings. Our further analysis addresses the issue of non‐disclosure of female workers' information; and its estimation results support our main findings.