Abstract
This study investigates the impact of board gender diversity on the financial performance of commercial banks in Bangladesh, focusing on the roles of board independence and audit committee autonomy. Using return on assets (ROA) as a measure of bank performance, the study employs descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multicollinearity tests, the Hausman test, and panel regression models, including fixed-effects estimation. To ensure robustness, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator is applied to address potential endogeneity. The fixed-effects results indicate a negative association between board gender diversity and bank performance at the 10% significance level, whereas the GMM estimates show no statistically significant relationship. Board independence is statistically insignificant in both models. The findings regarding audit committee independence differ across estimation methods: the fixed-effects model indicates a negative and statistically significant relationship, while the GMM model shows a positive and statistically significant relationship. These differences suggest that the results are sensitive to the model specification and should be interpreted cautiously. These results provide relevant insights for policymakers, regulators, and bank management, highlighting the importance of considering local governance structures, cultural norms, and institutional frameworks when designing strategies to enhance board effectiveness and bank performance.