Female FTSE Board Report 2019
Published on
Congratulations to IWF UK member Professor Susan Vinnicombe CBE for her latest Female FTSE Board Report, written with Dr Doyin Atewologun and Dr Valentina Battista of Cranfield School of Management.
Highlights are that the percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards has risen from 29% to 32% in the past year, well within sight of the 2020 target of 33%. However, the percentage of female executive directors remains worryingly low at 10.9%.
The successful launch event on 11 July, hosted by the Financial Reporting Council at Central Hall, Westminster, attracted an audience of hundreds, including many IWF UK members, and substantial media coverage. There was a lively panel discussion and audience Q&A covering issues including the need for transparency in board vacancies, the role of regulators, the role of men in driving change, and the intersectionality of different identities such as gender, culture and sexual orientation.
IWF UK contributed to the report with the following quote from Julie Goldstein, our Chair:
“It is good to see positive progress in the increased number of women on FTSE Boards, but the significant discrepancy between NED and Executive representation on both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies clearly requires further attention and action.
We should applaud those FTSE 100 companies who have made concerted efforts to improve the ratio of women on their boards and are no doubt seeing improvement in their bottom-line performance. There now needs to be a focus on modifying the Board culture in other companies to enable more women not only to participate but to take leadership roles, such as Chair and Senior Independent Director. Many of our members are working hard to achieve further progress in this area.”
