This report analyzes the relationship between board gender diversity (defined as having at least 30 percent women on the board of directors) and the financial performance of Kazakhstan joint-stock companies (JSCs). For this purpose, a series of financial and gender indicators were collected from the data of the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Depository of Financial Statements and the Register of State Enterprises and Institutions, Legal Entities with the State Participation in the Authorized Capital of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Central Securities Depository, etc. In total, the study includes financial and non-financial information from 788 JSCs between 2017-2019. Altogether, these companies account for 77 percent of all operating JSCs in the Republic of Kazakhstan.4 Between 2017 and 2019, 54 percent of Kazakhstan JSCs (for which information on board membership is available) had at least one woman on their boards, indicating that 46 percent had all-male boards. On average, women occupied approximately 17 percent of all board seats. The majority of companies had between one and two women on their boards.
