Does gender diversity affect the financial efficiency of Spanish Port Authorities?

Gender diversity in corporate governance has been extensively examined across economic sectors; however, its role in the traditionally male-dominated maritime and port industry remains largely unexplored. This paper investigates whether gender diversity on boards of directors and management teams in Spanish Port Authorities is associated with financial efficiency, using cross-sectional data from the 28 Spanish Port Authorities observed in 2019. Following the two-stage approach of Simar and Wilson (2007), financial efficiency scores are first estimated through bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis and then regressed on measures of gender diversity and controls for port size and cargo specialisation. The results indicate that greater gender diversity on boards of directors is significantly associated with higher efficiency, whereas diversity within management teams shows no significant association. This findings suggest that initiatives to increase women's representation in port governance may support both gender balance and organisational performance, provided sector-specific expertise is ensured.