Yesterday BlackRock, the huge institutional investor, reported that “most gender-balanced companies [over the last 8 or 9 years] outperformed the least diverse companies by 29%, as measured by average return on assets.” Those companies with women in leadership and who take longer maternity leaves lead the pack.

Balanced middle management, by gender, also added to improved performance.

Not only do gender-balanced companies earn more, but female participation resonates in investment fund management (10.5% better over the last 16 years) and in startup success (twice as much return for invested dollar over male founders).

Other take-aways: the key is balance, not female preponderance; female representation deteriorates with seniority (glass ceiling).

One logical conclusion based on data may not be that women are necessarily superior to men in management of existing businesses, but that the advantage comes from balanced gender synergy. We may speculate that this result is driven by application of different viewpoints, life experiences and, perhaps (this is guess) temperament. (I hasten to add that I do not ascribe any such  difference in temperament to biology, as that difference may derive from life experiences.)

One is tempted to generalize this study as likely applicable to the discussion in the immediately prior post, discussing corporate efforts to eradicate corporate systemic racism to improve performance.  Such a generalization is appealing but as far as I know is not data-supported, and the BlackRock report does not so speculate.

Finally, since we are free to suggest and speculate, it may be possible that the superior performance of female money managers and corporate founders may derive from women being put through a more rigorous vetting before they attract capital, eg a reflection of suspicion of female ability; such a reason may subject women to a higher standard.  Or maybe, they are simply more skilled after all……