Global stock markets have been collapsing since the beginning of 2008. Analysts and economists are now looking for companies that are resisting the crash.
My research project on companies from the French CAC 40 stock exchange index* points out that the more women there were in a company's management, the less the share price fell in 2008. A significant coefficient of correlation links the two variables.
Last year, Hermès was the only large company whose share price rose (16.8 per cent) and it has the second largest feminised management (55 per cent). Companies with a highly feminised management, such as Sanofi (44.8 per cent female managers and a 27.3 per cent share price decrease), Sodexo (43.39 per cent female managers and a 8.3 per cent decrease) or Danone (38 per cent female managers and a 29.6 per cent decrease), declined less than the CAC 40 (a fall of 42.7 per cent).