Under the new development concept, corporate environmental responsibility, social responsibility, and corporate governance are important ways for enterprises to achieve sustainable and high-quality development. Therefore, how to systematically drive enterprises to implement ESG strategic actions and improve their ESG performance is of great practical significance for enterprises to achieve sustainable and high-quality development. This article explores the specific impact and mechanism of female directors on enterprise ESG performance from the perspective of gender characteristics of the board of directors, using data from non-financial listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares of China from 2011 to 2022, and using a two-way fixed effects model. The research results indicate that：Firstly, female directors have a significant improvement effect on enterprise ESG performance, which means that female directors pay more attention to implementing ESG strategic actions, which can improve enterprise ESG performance. The results of the multidimensional test show that female directors have a significant improvement effect on corporate environmental responsibility performance, social responsibility performance, and corporate governance performance. Secondly, the results of the mechanism test indicate that female directors in enterprises mainly improve their ESG performance through a triple mechanism of increasing environmental investment, strengthening social donations, and improving corporate governance. Thirdly, the heterogeneity test results indicate that the improvement effect of female directors on enterprise ESG performance is more pronounced in industries with low environmental sensitivity, low competition, and regions with low degree of marketization. Fourthly, the results of the economic effect test indicate that female directors in enterprises promote high-quality development by improving their ESG performance. The research conclusion of this article provides a new perspective for studying the driving factors of enterprise ESG performance, and also provides policy inspiration for promoting enterprise high-quality development based on the perspectives of corporate governance, ESG performance, and the status of female directors.