FTSE 350 firms lack gender diversity

Wednesday 04th March 2020 08:51 EST
 
 

Ahead of the week celebrating UN International Women’s Day on 8th March, Investment Association (IA) has written to 63 firms lagging behind on targets that aim to increase the proportion of women in boardrooms and executive committees to 33% by the end of 2020.

On 28th February, a government-backed, Hampton-Alexander Review has warned one in five of the top 350 UK companies about the lack of gender diversity at senior levels. Now, they want a third of board-level and leadership positions at these firms to be filled by women by the end of the year. However, figures highlight that many are nowhere near the target - although the 100 top companies have passed one of the benchmarks. Appluading the review, Andrea Leadsom, former Business secretary, in a statement to the Asian Voice noted,

“The Hampton-Alexander Review has done fantastic work. But it is clear that women continue to face barriers to success, whether that’s through promotion to key roles or how they are treated by colleagues.

“Research consistently shows that diversity in businesses is not only essential for good working practice but makes them more successful.”

The review was set up in 2016 by the former chair of RBS Sir Philip Hampton and the late CBI president Dame Helen Alexander. It monitors the progress of women in leadership across FTSE 350 firms - the companies which make up the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 stock market indexes.

Earlier last month, the review had highlighted that women were holding one in three board positions at FTSE 100 firms. But it has singled out 24 FTSE 250 companies which only have one woman on their board and 35 FTSE 350 firms which have all-male executive committees.

“Where there are hostile workplace cultures, we simply can't ask women to lean in and try harder to reach leadership positions.

“Instead we need to ensure undermining behaviour is called out, not rewarded, and build an inclusive environment that embraces diverse leaders and allows everyone to thrive and give their best work,” said Professor Rosie Campbell, Director of the Global Institute for Women Leadership, King’s College London.

Since 2011, two government-backed reviews have focused on boosting women's representation on the boards of UK-listed companies. The Davies Review which ran from 2011 to 2015, increased the proportion of women serving on FTSE 100 boards from 12% to 25%. And representation of BAME women at these firms is even worse. This is further substantiated by the Parker Review which showed that 37 per cent of companies in the FTSE 100 had no non-white board members.


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