Gender diversity in board of directors and top management: The case of Turkish banks

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between gender diversity in top management of commercial banks and commercial bank performance in Turkey and to test whether the presense of women in top positions or diverse human resources is a valuable management tool for firms or not. The relationship is examined for the commercial banks operating in Turkey between the years of 2005 and 2008. The study can not detect any significant relationship between ROA (return on assets) and the number of females in boards and top management. The number of females in the boards as well as in top management is very low. This disables to stress the significance of gender diversity and we cannot conclude that more gender diverse boards and management generate better financial performance. © N. Ozatac, 2011.