UK SMEs with women on the board less likely to go bust

KSA looked at the insolvency rate of the UKs 1.5m companies with two or more directors in the 12 months to June 2019.

It found that the insolvency rate is 49% higher in all male boards than mixed boards and 32% higher in all male boards when compared with all female boards.

The insolvency rate for male-dominated boards was 0.63%, for female boards it was 0.48% and for mixed boards, it was 0.43%.

Robert Moore, marketing manager for KSA Group, said: “This is the second year that we have researched the role of gender in the insolvency rates of SMEs. Last year we found that female dominated boards had a lower insolvency rate than male dominated boards. This year we looked at the role of gender diversity and found that mixed boards had lower insolvency rates than both all male and all female boards.

"Whilst it is not possible to prove that women are better at running businesses than men, the body of evidence is growing that companies which have women on the board do reap benefits in terms of increased profitability and less corporate failures."