T

he results resemble those of previous studies: companies that have more women on the board perform better.

For instance, when the bank compared companies where women make up less than five per cent of the top operational jobs to those where more than 10 per cent of these key positions are held by women, it found a 27 per cent higher return on equity and a 42 per cent higher ratio of dividend payouts for those with greater gender diversity. It also found that female CEOs make fewer acquisitions and more divestitures than their male peers do.

While just 3.9 per cent of CEOs are women and just 17.5 per cent of top financial and strategic jobs are held by women, women hold 18.9 per cent of "services" jobs such as those leading legal, human resources and marketing departments – jobs that usually do not lead to the very top. Making these distinctions allowed Credit Suisse to see how companies succeed when there are more women in the really decisive jobs: the more women companies had in the top jobs, the better the results.

Companies where at least half of the key "front office" jobs were held by women had average annual returns of 28.7 per cent, compared with returns of 19.1 per cent for all companies, 22.8 per cent for those where a quarter of the top jobs were held by women, and 25.6 per cent where at least a third were filled with female bosses. 

Read more at Washington Post