The reasons for not appointing women to FTSE company boards have been revealed to the team conducting the government-backed Hampton-Alexander Review.
Despite a fall in the number of companies with all-male boards, several are still refusing to appoint female candidates to top roles. Excuses given for this lack of gender diversity ranged from ‘they don’t fit in’ and ‘they don’t want the hassle’ to ‘all the good ones have already gone’.
The Hampton-Alexander Review looks at ways to ensure that talented women at the top of business are recognised, promoted and rewarded. It is calling on bosses to ensure that one-third of FTSE leadership positions are occupied by women by 2020.
Despite the number of women on boards almost doubling in the FTSE 350 since 2011 and the number of all-male boards falling from 152 to 10, Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said such appalling explanations for not having women on boards proved companies have more work to do.
“It’s shocking that some businesses think these pitiful and patronising excuses are acceptable reasons to keep women from the top jobs. Our most successful companies are those that champion diversity,” said Griffiths.
Chief Executive of Business in the Community Amanda Mackenzie, added that it might be that those who give credence to these excuses are the ones that are not up to sitting on boards and should move over.
“However, we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic; the combination of gender pay gap reporting and the increased focus on equality and diversity in general by responsible businesses means there are more women on boards than ever before. While we still have a long way to go, with the collaboration between government, employers and their employees (both men and women), we could see true equality in our lifetime,” said Mackenzie.
According to research by McKinsey, bridging the gender pay gap could add £150 billion to the UK economy by 2025 and could translate into 840,000 additional female employees.
