Working with women, do men get all the credit?

Are firms that are managed and owned by females-only appraised differently than those where genders mix at the top? To answer this question, we study 7,467 small and medium-sized firms from 22 countries. We find that—when borrowing from banks—firms that are both managed and owned by females more often report binding credit constraints and higher interest rate payments than male-only firms: differences that we can attribute to taste-based discrimination. In contrast, if the manager and the owner have a different gender, we find no such differences with male-only firms. Hence, interestingly banks seem to assume that women invariably play second fiddle in the mixed-gender firms. We also show that discrimination between female-only and other firms disappears from economically more developed regions and from credit markets that are more competitive or dominated by transactional lenders. Plain English Summary Is mixing genders at the top good or bad for firm financing? It may matter or not. To arrive at this answer, we study almost 7,500 small and medium-sized firms from 22 countries. When borrowing from banks, firms that are both managed and owned by females obtain less financing. In contrast, if the manager and the owner have a different gender, we find no such differences with male-only firms. The implication is that bankers rightly or wrongly seem to assume that women invariably play second fiddle in mixed-gender firms. More progress toward gender equality seems possible.