GENDER HETEROGENEITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED NIGERIAN COMPANIES

This study investigated the economic impact of gender diversity on Board composition of companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Based on the grouping of fifty most capitalized companies on the NSE into companies with no female on board and those with at least one female on the board, the firm performance was analyzed with Mann Whitney U -test over a three-year period. We also examined whether there was any significant difference between the performance of boards with only one female and those with more than one female. The results show no significant difference in the performance of both groups. This is due to moderately heterogeneous board composition as a result of few females in top level decision-making. We recommend a policy mandating listed companies to evaluate their employment and selection methods regarding nomination and promotion into boards and management teams.