Is it worth having more female managers? A portfolio risk perspective from the global microfinance industry

Promoting gender diversity at different organizational levels remains one of the hotly debated issues in recent years. Motivated by the paucity of research in this area, our study aims to investigate the impact of female managers on the credit risk of microfinance institutions (MFIs). We have collected data from 1004 unique MFIs across 96 countries, covering the period of 2010 to 2018, using the World Bank Mix Market data catalog. The data were then analyzed using several conventional tools and techniques, including endogeneity-corrected estimators. The findings revealed that the presence of female managers lowers the credit risk of MFIs. The result mostly remains consistent and robust across different techniques and proxies. Therefore, promoting gender diversity at the managerial level could promote the long-term sustainability of MFIs.