Women may appear to out-think men in the corporate world, but men don’t appear to take notice — a fact that has some UF women speaking out.
When competing interests are at stake, women are better than men at consistently making fair decisions, according to a recent study from researchers at A.T. Still University in Arizona and McMaster University in Canada.
The study consisted of about 620 Canadian board directors: 75 percent males and 25 percent females. The directors were tested on three factors that go into decision making: self-interest, normative preference and complex moral reasoning.
Although both genders scored the highest in complex moral reasoning — or making consistently fair decisions — Chris Bart, co-author of the study, said that women scored much higher than men.
Even though the study showed women make better board members than men, Bart said, women are largely outnumbered on corporate boards — a trend that UF student Jessica Trad said needs to change.
“It’s unfair,” the 18-year-old UF statistics freshman said. “I think it should be equal.”
Donna Roberts, administrative assistant at UF Warrington College of Business Administration, said that it’s best to have a variety of board members when making decisions.
“I think it’s important for [women] to not undervalue their contributions to a company,” she said.
