April 2022
Women hold nearly 40% of board positions at the UK’s biggest firms, well ahead of the original 33% target Women now hold four in every 10 executive roles at FTSE 100 companies, according to the latest annual FTSE Women Leaders Review.
Women’s board representation stands at 39.1%, up from 36.2% at the start of 2021. The figure 10 years ago was just 12.5%!
However, if you drill down the figures there were still just eight CEOs and 16 women holding the position of chair.
The number of all-male executive committees in the FTSE 350 is down this year to just 16, down from 54 in 2017. Almost half of all FTSE 350 boards now have a woman in either chair, or senior independent roles.
UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said rather than mandating gender parity, the government supported the idea that neither gender should be over-represented (more than 60%) nor under-represented (less than 40%) at board and senior leadership level.
KPMG’s chair, Bina Mehta (pictured), said while companies have made great progress towards creating inclusive workplaces where everyone can thrive, the job is far from complete. She explained: “Structural and cultural barriers still exist for women and other historically underrepresented groups. This will require a sharp and deliberate focus on how businesses recruit, retain and progress their people at all levels.”
