The business case for diversity is strong, and numerous studies on the cost and effectiveness of diversity or why gender diversity is a corporate performance driver list plenty of proof points.

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The research, based on the US-wide National Education Longitudinal Survey, found that a teacher's gender had "large effects on student test performance".

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The 1997 awardees included Luis Alfaro, a Los Angeles performance artist who challenges views on race relations, gender and poverty, and Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, who started a bank for American Indians.

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Managers should take note that "a raft of research published over the last decade has shown that gender diversity and the right balance of talent can be a contributing factor to business performance, so there is a strong business case to ensure that we nurture female talent from the very start of their careers", said Ms Jackson.

BBC: Graduate pay gap - women paid thousands less than men

Odean used demographic information from a second data provider to determine the gender of the person who opened the account, how frequently he traded, and his performance, acknowledging that the person actually making investment decisions within a couple may not be the person who walked into the brokerage.

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If she can't figure out a way to improve her company's performance, she may find herself going the way of other unlucky CEOs--regardless of their gender.

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