The Relationship between Profitability and the Participation of Women in the Board of Directors of Listed Companies in Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine if there is a relationship between profitability and the participation of women in the Council of Administration (CA) in companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). We worked with a sample of 37 companies with the participation of women in the CA and with 32 companies where there is no participation of women in the CA; indicators were calculated for profitability and financial leverage. The findings show that the performance of the companies with the participation of women in the CA is more often measured with the Return on Invested Capital, and that they have less financial leverage at these companies, thus proving women’s aversion to taking risks, a variable that is linked to profitability and which would also explain the lower yield shown by the other three indicators of profitability.