Did you know that companies with women on their board have a share price 17% to 26% higher than companies with no women on their board?

Why is this? And what is it about women that increases financial performance in these companies? Mary Curtis, a Research Director at Credit Suisse and co-author of the report, found that “Stocks of companies with women on boards tend to be a little more risk averse and have on average a little less debt.”

But that’s only part of the story. It’s no surprise that women influence almost all of the key buying decisions – home, health, car, school, vacations, bank accounts, food, pharmaceuticals and general consumables…the list goes on. In fact women control 85% of all spend and 58% of total online spending. A huge number that companies can no longer ignore.

So with this in mind it makes sense to have women on your board, particularly if your company sells any of its products or services to women. Without a female voice influencing key decisions how can you get inside the mind of your customer and make decisions that will attract them? How can you get an edge if no-one on your board or in key leadership roles represents your key demographic?