An empirical evidence on the effect of women board representation on firm performance of companies listed in Iraq Stock Exchange

Despite that fact that Iraq has gone very far in the liberalization of women, Iraqi board of directors is still dominated by men. However, gender diversity is one of the largest concepts of board diversity and a major issue within corporate governance where several studies seek to discover the influence of diversity on firm performance. This article aims at examining the effect of women representation on firm performance of Iraqi listed firms using panel regression analysis. The empirical results of this paper provide evidence of a positive and significant relationship between female directors and firm performance as measured by Return on Assets while no relationship with the Tobin's q. The important policy implication of this finding is that the Iraqi Stock Exchange and Iraqi Security Commission should incorporate gender diversity in CG practices and encourage women directorship in Iraq.