Women in FTSE 100 boardrooms hit 25%

Three cheers, a new report has found 25% of the super successful humans allowed to have their say in the boardrooms of UK FTSE 100 companies are women.

There are business reasons for companies to get more women on board.

She added “The data suggests that today’s female NEDs (non-executive directors) only average 5.5 years tenure, which means that we are fast approaching a period when numerous current leaders will stand down”.

“Moreover, unlocking talent and economic potential by increasing female board membership shouldn’t just be limited to FTSE100 companies”.

He said the biggest thing holding back Yorkshire women and those in rural communities from even getting their foot in the door in the world of business is poor digital connectivity, something he will personally be lobbying the Government about.

Chilean miner Antofagasta was bottom of the FTSE 100 with just one out of eight directors.

The government fully supports his recommendations because we are clear, that in order to deliver our commitment to extending opportunity we must do more to secure equality for women in the workplace and beyond.

There are more women on FTSE 350 boards than ever before, with female board representation doubling since 2011 and over 550 female appointments to board level in just over 4 years.

“The question now is ‘who will replace them?'”. Women’s boardroom participation has stalled at less than 20% for several years, according to research by Catalyst.

Norman Broadbent, a firm of head hunters which finds executives for businesses, said it expected this new target to be met before 2020.

But what happens next is vital. “Only 2% of FTSE 100 Chairs come from black and ethnic minority backgrounds”. If not, then calls for a quota system – used by most of the countries above Britain in the global legal table – will grow louder.

Sturgeon said the Scottish Government’s 50:50 pledge will “challenge all public, private and third-sector bodies” to commit to gender equality in the boardroom, hoping to achieve 50/50 gender splits on boards by the end of the decade.

On Thursday, Royal Dutch Shell, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank were the latest companies to post mixed results.

Varying reasons lay behind the results, including falling oil prices, regulatory issues and a slowdown in China, although a few big businesses are still performing well, notably Apple, the biggest of them all. “Worldwide evidence shows that the only really effective way to prevent male-dominated boards from recruiting in their own image is to use quotas”, says Smethers.

Could we now be seeing the fruits of companies choosing to use that cash to keep their investors happy with dividends and share buybacks rather than investing it in their operations?