The new report sets out a new target of 33% female board members by 2020.
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It is a notable reversal of fortunes from a few years ago, when the USA and European economies were struggling to bounce back from recession while big business were sitting on record cash piles. In the United States, where gender quotas remain unpopular, the top companies lag behind their counterparts in Europe.
It named Unilever and Marks & Spencer, where women make up 25% and 27.3% of the board, respectively, among the FTSE 100 companies “leading the way”. And there’s not just one “glass ceiling” – many women just don’t want to work for companies that place small but numerous obstacles in their path, however unintentionally.
He added: “I saw so much talent in the North and it doesn’t matter where you’re based in the United Kingdom you absolutely have to get the issue of diversity, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a private company or public country, or whether you employ 10 people or 100,000, it’s hugely important to get that diversity of thought, thinking and background”.
We need to help girls believe they can climb the ladder and be business leaders on their own merits (currently just five FTSE 100 bosses are women). These include pay transparency at every company with more than 250 employees, plus a legislation requiring large companies to publish the amount awarded to men and women as bonuses.
The number of women in FTSE 350 boardrooms may have increased to 682 from 289 four years ago – but there are still 15 companies that have no women in their boardrooms at all. These top companies have now got to put their house in order and fix the executive committees. The approach of setting a voluntary target rather than implementing a legislative quota has made an impact. “I would expect – and I’m very confident – over the next five years to see the same change in executive committees as we’ve seen in boardrooms”. Hiring a woman who has prospered within another business to be a non-executive director is one thing, but creating a culture whereby women can rise up the ranks within a business to become an executive director is entirely another.
It’s been reported previously in the Yorkshire Post how Bradford-based grocer Morrisons, Saltaire-based set-top box maker Pace and Bradford-based credit lender Provident Financial have embraced gender diversity, comfortably outstripping the 25 per cent female target Lord Davies set when he embarked on his review in 2011. “All efforts so far towards achieving gender diversity will be for nothing if organisations don’t understand how crucial the visibility of female executive directors – those actively involved in the day-to-day decision-making and strategy creation – is to make a real, long-lasting difference”.
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Instead, Lord Davies is calling for more.
