Women director characteristics: Do they add value to firm performance?

Participation of women as a part of firm management becomes one of the nation agenda as the Malaysian government introduced a policy to increase women involvement at least 30% in corporate sectors in June 2011.The aim of this paper is to examine whether the characteristics of women as decision maker influence firm performance.Based on 2384 firm observations from year 2001 to 2012, this study finds that women education level, age and ownership have a relationship with firm performance.These findings indicate that women directors who are older in age and have a degree qualification help to improve firm performance.In contrast, women ownership has a negative association with firm performance which indicate that women involvement in a company as shareholders do no contribute to the incremental of firm performance.Large firms enjoy high performance whilst capital intensive firms struggling in their performance