Note that 99 percent of activist hedge fund managers are men. A 2016 story in Fortune Magazine identified Dianne McKeever of Ides Capital as the only female running an activist shop.

The Glass Cliff?

One sometimes-mooted theory is that woman CEOs are more likely to be lumbered with the kinds of companies that attract activist hedge funds; those undergoing a difficult executive transition, either due to change in the marketplace or at the specific company. This idea is sometimes called “the glass cliff” - an echo of the “glass ceiling” that is said to block female C-suite advancement.

To look at this, the study examined firms that have had a male-to-female CEO transition, compared with male-to-male ones, further matching by firm characteristics. Even doing this and controlling for firm characteristics, woman CEOs were still more likely to find themselves in activists’ crosshairs.

One thing the study did find was that firms led by woman showed a larger increase in operational performance and a bigger short-term stock market boost when news of the activist campaign breaks. The authors say this discounts pure gender discrimination by hedge fund managers.

Perhaps, but it certainly doesn’t discount bias by the investors buying and selling shares in the woman-led companies involved.

What does seem to be true is that female CEOs take a more constructive and mature (and less self-dealing) approach to activist negotiations. This point is very much in their favor as stewards of capital, but perhaps makes them more attractive targets for outsiders.

“We find that, instead of maintaining a defensive posture, female CEOs are more likely to communicate and cooperate with activist hedge funds. Specifically, when hedge fund activists target female CEOs, they are less likely to resort to hostile tactics, are more likely to obtain board seats, seek reimbursement, use letters to communicate with managers, settle before proxy fights, and, ultimately, are more likely to be successful at achieving all or part of their goals,” according to the study.

Female CEOs also hold more board meetings and are less prone to adopt “poison pill” tactics to foil outside activists.

That all sounds like good management, at least to me.