(Catalyst: New York) -- Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women board directors attained significantly higher financial performance, on average, than those with the lowest representation of women board directors, according to Catalyst’s most recent report, “The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards.” In addition, the report points out, on average, notably stronger-than-average performance at companies with three or more women board directors.

The study, which is the second of Catalyst’s Bottom Line reports, looked at return on equity (ROE), return on sales (ROS), and return on invested capital (ROIC), and compared the performance of companies with the highest representation of women on their boards to those with the lowest representation.

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