Since the financial crisis 2008/09, gender diversity has been developed as one of the key board composition variables. From a research, regulatory and practical perspective, women on board of directors (WOBD) should contribute to a sustainable strategic management with regard to the increased stakeholder demands on social and environmental issues. In view of this recent discussion, this literature review evaluates 200 empirical research studies on the impact of WOBD on corporate governance quality and firm performance. We briefly introduce the theoretical and empirical WOBD framework that comprises an adequate structure of the state-of-the-art of empirical research in this field. This is followed by a discussion of WOBD effectiveness which aims to enhance corporate governance quality, and is divided into the following areas: (1) financial reporting; (2) corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting; (3) audit and (4) corporate philanthropy. We will then evaluate the impact of WOBD on:(5) financial performance and (6) CSR performance. Therefore, we state that WOBD effectiveness will positively influence both financial and CSR outcome. Furthermore, we will summarize the key findings in each area, and provide a description of the analyzed proxies for corporate governance quality and firm performance. Finally, we will discuss the limitations of the studies and give useful recommendations for future empirical research activities in this topic.