Purpose This paper aims to seek the optimal proportion of female executives in corporate management teams, and to analyze the threshold effect of the proportion of female executives on the enterprise market value and enterprise management performance by using a panel threshold regression model. The purpose of this paper is to obtain the optimal interval, during which female executives exert positive effects on enterprise market value and enterprise management performance. Design/methodology/approach Based on the data of listed companies in SSE from 2003 to 2012, this paper conducts theoretical and empirical analysis by using a panel threshold regression model. Findings This paper proves that the proportion of female executives has a threshold effect on the enterprise market value and enterprise management performance. The results show that the proportion of female executives has an optimal interval. In other words, during the 53.8-68.4 percent interval, the proportion of female executives exerts the least negative effect on the enterprise market value and the most positive effect on the enterprise management performance. Originality/value In this paper, the non-linear relationship between female executives, enterprise market value and enterprise management performance has been verified, and the optimization interval of the female executives’ proportion has been figured out as well.