Women are good for business

In last Sunday’s edition of the Detroit Free Press there was a front page article, Breaking the Boardroom Ceiling. It reported that women on corporate boards are good for business. General Motors’ board of directors is 50% women and the boards of Ford and Fiat Chrysler are well above 20%. In addition, 20% of board seats in Michigan based Corporations are filled by women and nationwide women fill 20.8% of board seats.

A nonprofit organization “2020 Women on Boards” started advocating for women on corporate boards back in 2010, aiming for 20% by 2020. The goal was reached three years early.

This trend of more women on boards is being pushed by investment companies that want a good return for some pretty large pension funds. That includes funds run by men. Their reasons for the push:

* Gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform their peers. Women interrupt the “head-nodding group think.”

* The more male-dominated board has a higher likelihood of fraud. Women are more ethically sensitive.

* Women are less overconfident, and are more risk-adverse.

* At least half of consumer spending is influenced by women. Their views need to be represented during crucial decisions.

* Incidents that jeopardize corporate reputations and disrupt revenue streams would not have happened or would be addressed more quickly with more women on the board. This likely refers to sexual scandals, but probably a lot more than that.