Female Leaders Achieve Higher Levels of Corporate Social Responsibility

Posted by Thomas on Mar 29, 2012 in Business / Economics, Our Favorite News & Innovations | 0 comments

A new study was conducted by researchers at Catalyst and the Harvard Business School, which was based on woman’s role in business and society. According to the Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility study, companies with more women at the top positions are better employers and show more corporate social responsibility (CSR). Researchers from Harvard Business School have examined how organizational and corporate leadership structure influence CSR by studying the most visible form in the US.

I have gone across the recent study by the Harvard Business School which states that compared to the companies without female executive leaders, the companies with leadership teams with mixed genders have contributed more to charitable funds. The presence of women leaders helps in controlling key factors which may influence donation levels like size, industry and the company’s overall performance related to finance. Women leaders are not only committed to their work, but also help in strengtening social responsibility. They also oversee distribution of resources during donation decisions and contribute to diverse perspectives on fairness. This in total broadens a company’s commitment to CSR and increases its levels of charitable giving.

Anabel Perez, Senior Vice President at Catalyst for Development says “Companies are realizing that advancing more women to senior leadership roles has many benefits, including increased financial performance and sustainability”. I have seen the articles based on the research of Catalyst and HBS. They found that companies with women in the top levels showed higher levels of CSR, compared to companies with less or no women in senior roles. Records indicate that in 2007, the average donations of companies with three or more women directors were 28 times higher than that of companies who didn’t have women directors.  Companies with 25 percent or more corporate officers who were women made annual contributions and these were 13 times higher than that of companies with no women officers.

Source: The Catalyst

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