Financial Crisis and Women on Corporate Boards

Now here's some interesting research, from a newly-posted paper entitled:  "Women in the Boardroom and their Impact on Governance and Performance."  Apparently, more women on corporate boards means corporate performance is monitored more closely.  They tend to show up more for board meetings and volunteer to serve on monitoring committees more often than men.   The authors of the study conclude that, overall, this increased monitoring has a negative effect, because it is counterproductive in firms that are well run.  The "negative" effect of all those women on the board, actually showing up for meetings and serving on monitoring committee, appears to be particularly pronounced in firms with strong shareholder rights, negatively effecting market valuation and operating performance.

Hmmmmm........  How many of us these days are wondering exactly how well-run the big financial firms have been, and how many of us are calling for MORE monitoring?  And how many are wondering whether the shareholders' exclusive focus on profits is the best source of good governance? 

Maybe John Paul II was on to something, back in August of 1995, when he said in an Angelus reflection:  "the greater presence of businesswomen in executive positions in the economy is 'giving it a new human inspiration and removing it from the recurring temptation of dull efficiency marked only by the laws of profit.'"