Cable ‘confident’ women on board targets can be met
7 October 2013
Business secretary Vince Cable says he is “confident we can get over the finish line” as the latest data for female representation on the board of the UK’s top companies shows that 19% of directors are female.
Mon, 7 Oct 2013Business secretary Vince Cable says he is “confident we can get over the finish line” as the latest data for female representation on the board of the UK’s top companies shows that 19% of directors are female.
The newly-released data from the Professional Boards Forum shows that female directors have increased by 50% in number since February 2011, when just 12.5% of FTSE 100 directors were female.
The FTSE 250 continues to lag behind its elite counterpart, with 14.9% women directors, a rise from the 7.8% mark when Lord Davies published his report into the matter in February 2011.
Cable says: “Businesses are clearly still striving to get the right mix of talent around their boardroom table and we must not lose that momentum.” In April, he had noted concern about just that – saying “momentum appears to be slowing”.
“With today’s encouraging figures, I am confident we can get over the finish line.”
However, across both groups, women are significantly more likely to be in non-executive roles, with Cable saying “appointing more women as non-executive directors is not an end in itself. This is about more talented women getting executive experience”.
The newly-released data from the Professional Boards Forum shows that female directors have increased by 50% in number since February 2011, when just 12.5% of FTSE 100 directors were female.
The FTSE 250 continues to lag behind its elite counterpart, with 14.9% women directors, a rise from the 7.8% mark when Lord Davies published his report into the matter in February 2011.
Cable says: “Businesses are clearly still striving to get the right mix of talent around their boardroom table and we must not lose that momentum.” In April, he had noted concern about just that – saying “momentum appears to be slowing”.
“With today’s encouraging figures, I am confident we can get over the finish line.”
However, across both groups, women are significantly more likely to be in non-executive roles, with Cable saying “appointing more women as non-executive directors is not an end in itself. This is about more talented women getting executive experience”.
- Click for more executive recruitment news and updates from Recruiter.
