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As any scientist can confirm, the fact that two events repeatedly occur at the same time does not mean that one event causes the other. Trying to explain the link is often the challenge. So it is with the perennial debate over gender diversity in corporate boardrooms. As political pressure to get more women on to boards intensifies, various statistical studies – from McKinsey to Ernst and Young– have suggested that higher female representation is accompanied by better financial and stock market performance. The question is why.
任何一个科学家都可以确认一个事实，两件事同时发生多次，并不代表一件事是导致另一件的原因。试图解释两者的联系往往是种挑战。围绕公司董事会成员性别构成的长期辩论也是如此。随着要求更多女性进入董事会的政治压力加剧，各类统计研究（从麦肯锡到安永会计师事务所）都显示，女性董事比例较高的公司有更好的财务及股市表现。问题是原因何在。
Research published by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, looking at data for more than 2,300 companies worldwide, has produced an intuitively appealing explanation. First, the study notes a difference in share price returns before and after the 2008 global financial crash. For large-cap stocks, boards with female members have outperformed those without by 26 per cent during the past six years. For smaller companies, the figure is 17 per cent. In both cases the outperformance came after the 2008 ructions. The study also notes that when women are represented at board level, companies tend to have lower gearing. More than that, gearing came down faster post-2008 when female directors were present.
瑞信(Credit Suisse)研究院发表的研究报告，分析了全球超过2300家企业的数据，提供了一个在直觉上具有吸引力的解释。首先，该研究报告注意到2008年全球金融危机之前和之后股价回报率的区别。在大市值股票中，有女性董事成员的公司，过去六年的表现超过没有女性成员的公司26%。在小市值股票公司中，这个数字是17%。在上述两种情况下，更好的表现都出现在2008年动荡之后。研究还指出，当董事层有女性代表时，公司负债率往往较低。不仅如此，有女董事的公司，在2008年后负债率的下降速度更快。
Wisely, the authors hesitate to draw facile conclusions and admit nothing is proved. But one explanation may be that female directors encourage risk aversion – particularly beneficial when booms turn into bleaker market conditions. If so, such a conclusion has interesting implications. For a start, it is unclear whether investors should welcome women on to company boards wholeheartedly once the business climate changes and the name of the game becomes risk-taking and growth. That said, perhaps policy makers should stuff the boards of companies that repeatedly take too many risks with female directors. A few banks spring to mind. Are there any women out there brave – and risk-averse – enough to volunteer to sit on the boards of Barclaysor UBS?
明智的是，报告的作者们不愿就此得出轻易的结论，他们承认这些数字不能证明什么。但其中一种解释可能是，女董事往往会鼓励风险规避——这在市场环境由繁荣转为惨淡时尤为有利。若真如此，这一结论就带来一些有意思的潜在影响。首先，一旦商业气候发生变化，游戏主题转变为冒险和增长，投资者是否还应该全心全意欢迎女董事，这点还不清楚。话说回来，对于那些反复冒太高风险的公司，政策制定者或许应该考虑将女性塞进其董事会。这让人想到一些银行。有没有一些足够勇敢（和讨厌风险）的女性，自愿担任巴克莱银行(Barclays)或瑞银(UBS)的女董事？
