It is a good day for women as it is announced that 23.5% of FTSE 100 board members are now female
At Get The Gloss we are all about championing women in the workplace so today’s business news is music to our ears. Lord Davies, the former trade minister, today confirmed that since 2011 the amount of women holding powerful positions on boards of the UK’s most influential companies has almost doubled ( Karren Brady gave us an inkling before the statement was released ...).
An annual benchmarking report by the Cranfield University School of Management found that there are now 263 female directors in FTSE 100 companies and 41 firms in the FTSE 250 had now met the 25% target.
Gold stars go to drinks company Diageo and the Intercontinental Hotels Group who jointly topped the list with 45% female representation on their boards.
Although the news signals a move in the right direction there is still a lot more to be done to reach a healthy fifty-fifty balance. Denise Wilson from the Lord Davies Women on Board Steering Group confirmed: "This is a journey of small steps… we always recognised this was going to be the toughest nut to crack."
To reach 2015's 25% target a further 17 women need to be appointed before the end of the year.