The UK’s 50 largest private companies, as well as all FTSE 350 organisations, have been invited to share the gender break down of their leadership teams for analysis by the government-supported FTSE Women Leaders Review.
Earlier this year, the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the successor to the Hampton-Alexander and Davies reviews, announced that it would be extending its remit to include the largest non-listed businesses.
Major employers including Deloitte, John Lewis Partnership, Laing O’Rouke, Merlin Entertainments and Thames Water are now within the scope of the review
The review, an independent, business-led framework, sets recommendations for Britain’s largest companies to improve the representation of women on boards and the two leadership levels below.
It encourages organisations to submit their leadership data on a voluntary basis, with the aim of driving progress in gender diversity. The data is published in an annual report each February.
In 2011, just 9% of FTSE 350 board roles were held by women. This increased to 37.6% at the beginning of 2022.
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FTSE 350 companies have been set voluntary targets towards achieving gender parity, including having a minimum of 40% women on boards and leadership teams by the end of 2025 and at least one female chair or senior independent director role on the board, and/or one female chief executive or finance director.
The organisations with the scope of the review have until 30 November 2022 to submit their data via the FTSE Women Leaders Review portal.
Denise Wilson, CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review said: “Our priority is to build on the success of our voluntary, business-led approach which sets us apart from many other countries in creating a step-change in the representation of women on boards and leadership teams. There remains much more to be done however in delivering gender equality at the top of British business and extending the scope of the Review to fifty of the UK’s largest private companies will be key to achieving this goal.
“The discussions we have had with the private companies have been overwhelmingly positive and we are looking forward to supporting them in the submission of their leadership gender data over the coming weeks.”
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Earlier this year, Wilson told Personnel Today that many FTSE 350 organisations were still struggling to meet the 33% female representation target they had been asked to reach by the end of 2020, because some were doing the “bare minimum” to improve the diversity of their boards.
Earlier this year the European Union announced it would require listed companies with more than 250 employees to have at least 40% female representation among non-executive directors, or show they have transparent procedures in place for the selection and appointment of board members.
