Having a gender-balanced workforce within a company pays off. This is the conclusion of a study published Thursday, November 2, by BlackRock, an American asset management company. This looked at some 1,200 companies in the MSCI World index, i.e. the main listed companies in twenty-three developed countries.
Between 2013 and 2022, those with the most balanced female-to-male ratio had a return of 7.7% per year on average. This is approximately 2 points more than those who had a significant imbalance in favor of men (5.6% on average) or those who had a significant imbalance in favor of women (6.1%). “In other words, it is diversity that counts, rather than the domination of men or women”underlines the study.
To ensure the robustness of its results, BlackRock then compared performances within the same country, or the same sector, based on gender balance. The conclusion is similar, with outperformance for the most balanced companies.
Zero points for Spain, Italy and Israel
Despite these conclusions, which should push for better equity, the study shows that responsibility within companies remains firmly in the hands of men. At the lowest level, among these 1,200 companies, there are 49% women, almost equal to men. They are now only 33% for middle managers, 29% for senior managers, 18% for senior managers and… 6% for general managers. Spain, Italy and Israel have zero points, with no large companies in this panel led by a woman. Finland, Norway and Singapore, with more than 15% of female CEOs, top the rankings.
These conclusions should reignite the debate raging in the United States on companies accused of being “woke”. A school of thought close to the Republican Party accuses business leaders of being too interested in questions of diversity, governance or the environment, to the detriment of pure financial profitability. This study rather proves him wrong.
The survey also shows that a company that actively works to rebalance gender diversity gains in profitability. Thus, the longer the duration of maternity leave, the more performance improves.
Finally, this study was only possible because regulations have changed in recent years, increasingly requiring companies to disclose the gender balance in their workforce. Now, 80% of the companies in this panel publish this data, compared to only a third a decade ago.