Growing numbers of women are running Britain’s top businesses, according to a new report, by Cranfield School of Management’s Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders, which found the number of female directorships in the FTSE 100 has topped 100 for the first time.
For the first time two companies, AstraZeneca and Marks and Spencer, have four female directors and women comprise a third of their boards. A further nine companies have 20-30% female representation on their boards, a steady increase since 1999.
The report found that:
“Women have trouble breaking into the boardroom in some companies, and even this year just 1 in 12 of FTSE 100 directors are women,” said Patricia Hewitt. “That’s not representative of their staff or their customers. The best businesses are definitely realising that diversity in the boardroom goes hand in hand with good corporate governance, better customer relations, and, ultimately, is beneficial to the bottom line. Now the rest need to learn from the best,” she added.
Sir Philip Watts of Shell commented: “Shell’s third-place in the Female FTSE 100 Index shows the progress we have made in a challenging industry. Diversity is part of running a good business. Shareholders, our customers and staff expect the business community to improve its diversity”.
Dr. Val Singh, co-author of the report, said: “It is great that so many top companies are doing “the bright thing” in terms of gender diversity on boards. But there is still much to do to identify and deal with the barriers for women in middle management, the next generation of women business leaders.”
She continued: “So many companies seem surprised that high-flying women leave or stagnate in mid-career. More research is needed to understand what employers can do to retain and develop the women to full potential, to the advantage of the women, the organisation and the future talent pool for director appointments.”
