Sponsor Proof of concept Research by Australias Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre has suggested a causal relationship between increased female leadership and businesses financial perfor ance By Rebecca Cassells It could be the most compelling case yet for Australian companies to raise their game when it comes to gender equality and women in leadership: the data shows it literally pays to have women at the top. The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) has analysed company data collected by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and discovered that the glass ceiling that prevents women from holding high-level jobs is also holding back Australian companies and the return on investment for shareholders. Having more women in senior leadership roles, sitting on boards and as chief executives leads to better profitability, productivity and performance for companies, the analysis found. According to our research, if an Australian ASX-listed company increased the number of women in key leadership roles by 10 percentage points, it would en oy a significant boost a . increase in its market value, worth the equivalent of $104.7m. The research also shows that an increase in female representation on the boards of Australian ASX-listed companies leads to a . increase . m in market value while a female chief executive will mean a company is . more likely to outperform its rivals across three or more standard company performance indicators, including dividend yield. How can we prove that women are the driving force? Several critical steps need to be taken when trying to identify a causal relationship between female representation and company performance. To do this, we use multivariate regression, including two way panel fixed effects applied to longitudinal data to draw out a causal inference. We also incorporate a number of controls and other steps in our methodology, to make sure we are able to isolate the impact women in senior leadership are having on company performance. We control for other company characteristics that also influence 10 Impact ISSUE 31 20_pp10-11_Australia.indd 10 22/09/2020 16:01