Gender diversity in the boardroom: FTSE 350 companies need to do more

An independent review aimed at increasing the number of women in board positions at FTSE 350 companies has published its latest report which reveals that these companies need to do more to meet the target of women holding 33% of senior leadership positions by 2020.

The Hampton-Alexander Review (the Review) has published its third annual report which assesses progress, shines a spotlight on emerging best practice and current challenges.

The report reveals that FTSE 100 companies are on track to meet the 33% target o (30% of board positions are now occupied by women in FTSE 100 companies, up from 12.5% in 2011). However, the report found that, almost 25% of FTSE 350 companies only have one woman on their board and that there remain five all-male boards. This means that 50% of appointments to board positions will have to be filled by women over the next two years for FTSE 350 companies to meet the said target.

Other findings of the report include:
• all-male boards across FTSE 350 have fallen from 152 in 2011 to five in 2018
• four FTSE 100 companies and six FTSE 250 companies have 50% or more women on their boards.

The Review published its first report in November 2016 and continues the work of the earlier Davies Review (which looked at female representation at the UK’s larger companies) . This is part of the government’s on-going strategy to increase workplace diversity and has already seen the introduction of a Race at Work Charter for businesses, to increase ethnic minority representation in the workplace and, proposals for ethnicity pay reporting, to help address significant disparities in the pay and progression of ethnic minority employees.

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