Does board gender diversity affect firm performance?Empirical evidence from Standard & Poor’s 500 Information Technology Sector

The essence of this study is to investigate the influence of the board gender diversity on firms’accounting and market-based performance using a sample of Standard&Poor’s 500 companies belonging to the information technology sector over 12 years.Using the pooled ordinary least squares(OLS)method,the outcomes provide evidence for a positive influence of women on corporate boards on both measures of company performance,except for the percentage of female executives in the case of return on assets(ROA).After estimating the fixed effects and random-effects through panel data,the econometric outcomes show no statistically significant association among board gender diversity and ROA but a positive influence of the number and percentage of women on board on price-to-earnings ratio.

Cancer screening and management in the transgender population:Review of literature and special considerations for gender affirmation surgery

BACKGROUND Literature focused on cancer screening and management is lacking in the transgender population.AIM To action to increase contributions to the scientific literature that drives the creation of cancer screening and management protocols for transgender and gender nonconforming(TGNC)patients.METHODS We performed a systematic search of PubMed on January 5th,2022,with the following terms:“TGNC”,OR“transgender”,OR“gender non-conforming”,OR“gender nonbinary”AND“cancer screening”,AND“breast cancer”,AND“cervical cancer”,AND“uterine cancer”,AND“ovarian cancer”,AND“prostate cancer”,AND“testicular cancer”,AND“surveillance”,AND“follow-up”,AND“management”.70 unique publications were used.The findings are discussed under“Screening”and“Management”categories.RESULTS Screening:Current cancer screening recommendations default to cis-gender protocols.However,long-term genderaffirming hormone therapy and loss to follow-up from the gender-specific specialties contribute to a higher risk for cancer development and possible delayed detection.The only known screening guidelines made specifically for this population are from the American College of Radiology for breast cancer.Management:Prior to undergoing Gender Affirmation Surgery(GAS),discussion should address cancer screening and management in the organs remaining in situ.Cancer treatment in this population requires consideration for chemotherapy,radiation,surgery and/or reconstruction.Modification of hormone therapy is decided on a case-by-case basis.The use of prophylactic vs aesthetic techniques in surgery is still debated.CONCLUSION When assessing transgender individuals for GAS,a discussion on the future oncologic risk of the sex-specific organs remaining in situ is essential.Cancer management in this population requires a multidisciplinary approach while the care should be highly individualized with considerations to social,medical,surgical and gender affirming surgery related specifications.Special considerations have to be made during planning for GAS as surgery will alter the anatomy and may render the organ difficult to sample for screening purposes.A discussion with the patient regarding the oncologic risk of remaining organs is imperative prior to GAS.Other special considerations to screening such as the conscious or unconscious will to unassociated with their remaining organs is also a key point to address.We currently lack high quality studies pertinent to the cancer topic in the gender affirmation literature.Further research is required to ensure more comprehensive and individualized care for this population.

Influence of Board Mechanisms on Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures in Nigeria: A Study of Oil and Gas Sector of the Economy

The study examined the influence of board mechanisms on corporate social responsibility disclosure among oil and gas quoted companies in Nigeria for ten(10)years period(2012-2021).Board mechanisms variables of board independence,board size as well as board gender diversity were analyzed to determine their influence on corporate social responsibility disclosures.Data obtained from the financial statement of various sampled companies were suitably analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics,correlation as well as regression analysis by making use of E-view(9.0)econometric packages.Regression result reveals that board independence has significant and negative influence on corporate social responsibility disclosures while board size and board gender diversity have insignificant and negative influence on corporate social responsibility disclosures of various companies.The study therefore arrived at a conclusion that board independence on the board brings about improvement on corporate social responsibility disclosure among quoted oil and gas companies in Nigeria.

Female directors and real activities manipulation:Evidence from China

Unlike previous studies that focus on accrual-based earnings management, this study analyzes real activities manipulation and investigates whether female directors on boards of directors(Bo Ds) affect managers' real activities manipulation. Using a large sample of 11,831 firm-year observations from Chinese listed companies from the 2000 to 2011 period, we find that higher female participation on Bo Ds is associated with lower levels of real activities manipulation, and that this negative relationship is stronger when female directors have higher ownership. These results hold for a battery of robustness checks.Overall, our findings indicate that board gender diversity may serve as a substitute mechanism for corporate governance to curb real activities manipulation and thus provide interested stakeholders with higher quality earnings reports.