Mahatma Gandhi and the University of Michigan
At a guess, this might be the first use of the title ‘Mahatma Gandhi and the University of Michigan ‘ for a blog post. The two are (surprisingly, perhaps) not connected to the best of my knowledge, I’m just a bit pushed for time so you have two posts for the price of one. Because I’m that kind of guy.
I recently came across a quotation which beautifully illustrates the position we find ourselves in at the moment:
‘First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.’ MAHATMA GANDHI
I’d say we’re just coming onto the second stage. How long till we get to the fourth? I have no idea, but we will get there. We HAVE to get there for the sake of all men, and the vast majority of women and children.
Were he alive today, Gandhi would have had something to say about feminists, I feel sure. I digress.
The University of Michigan (and more specifically its Ross School of Business) is the source of a paper that has been generating much interest in the ‘gender balance in the boardroom’ debate. Feminists claim a positive causal relationship between increasing female representation on boards and increasing corporate performance. A paper published by Professor Amy Dittmar and Professor Ken Ahern of the UoM Ross School of Business shows conclusively that in Norway the increased female representation on company boards (forced by legislation) had a causal effect on corporate performance, but the effect was a NEGATIVE one. Still, I don’t expect the feminists to trouble themselves over such thing as facts (they rarely do). For the umpteenth time I invite anyone with any evidence of a positive causal link between increased female representation on boards, and improved corporate performance, to send it to me. I’ve been searching for the evidence for years, and nobody seems able to provide any. We know why, don’t we?
The UoM paper is now in print in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2012, vol. 127(1): 137-197. You can also access the article at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1364470
