Partner Article

Female boardroom members increase

The number of women in British boardrooms has increased since a Government sponsored report into the issue last year.

The former chief executive of Standard Chartered and former British trade minister Mervyn davies issued a report in February 2011 calling for the number of women on boards to double to 25% by 2015.

In the past year female representation on boards has risen to 16% from 12.5% on FTSE 100 boards. In 2004 the figure was 9.4%. Within the FTSE 250 firms, female representation currently sits at 10.1%.

Many UK recruiters have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct to improve gender imbalances, and the figures indicated that many have also adhered to the conditions.

However, this could be attributed to the threats made in March by the European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding that quotas would be imposed if more progress did not occur.

Women looking to reach board level are being encouraged to use their networks to build up links to the top positions, whilst also working hard and developing key skills for the position. However, some feel that more support should be offered to those looking to reach these positions.

Speaking to Reuters, Will Dawkins, head of SpencerStuart’s UK board practice also stressed the importance of developing female talents by looking for intrinsic skills as well as qualifications.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .