Female leadership and environmental, social and governance performance. Empirical evidence from France

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the extent to which the presence of women in governance and top management positions is likely to affect corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. This study also examines the interaction effect between female leadership and cultural leadership in the boardroom.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical quantitative paper covers a sample of French-listed non-financial companies from 2018 to 2022 (925 firm-year observations). France is the European Union pioneer of non-financial reporting and gender equality policies. A fixed-effect panel regression analysis was estimated to unveil the links between the presence of women in governance and top management positions and ESG performance.FindingsResults show that appointing more women on the board of directors and executive team is conducive to higher ESG performance. Nevertheless, the interaction effect between female and cultural leadership does not impact ESG performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the accounting and corporate governance literature on gender diversity and ESG performance by investigating female leadership in both directorship and top executive roles.