Does female leadership matter in firm risk-taking and performance? Evidence from gender equality reforms in an emerging market

Abstract

Our article examines the impact of board gender diversity and female leadership on firm risk-taking and firm performance in Vietnam under the implementation of the National Strategy on Gender Equality. We find that female CEOs are associated with lower firm risk-taking and an increase in firm accounting returns is attributed to a transition from male to female CEOs. Further, board gender diversity is independently identified to lower firm risk-taking and female leadership (i.e. female CEOs and chairwomen) generates higher accounting profit (measured by ROA) for their businesses under this reform agenda.