CEO GENDER AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

Based on data collected from the Execucomp database concerning S&P 1,500 U.S. firms over the period 1992 to 2013, we evaluate whether CEO gender affects firm performance. We also examine CEO performance in terms of company risk. Our research reveals that on average the gender of the CEO has no significant effect on firm performance. Specifically, our research shows that the gender of CEO does not affect the firm risk level, and in terms of stock return, the difference is not significant between female and male CEOs. Furthermore, We divide firms into high risk and low risk groups based on their β, where β greater than one is considered high risk and β less than one is considered low risk. As a result of this analysis there is no evidence that CEO gender has a significant impact on firm performance regardless of the company risk level.