On 13 November 2019, the Hampton-Alexander report published its fourth annual report on improving the gender balance of FTSE 350 boards. The report notes that 2019 has been the strongest year of progress since 2011 when the targets were set to achieve long-term gender balance. FTSE 100 companies are on track to reach the 33% target for women boards ahead of the 2020 deadline whilst FTSE 250 companies made strong gains during the year and with sustained effort will also meet the 2020 deadline. The main findings of the report were:
- 32.4% of FTSE 100 board positions are held by women, a 2.2% increase from 2018. However, 51 FTSE 100 companies have not yet achieved the 33% target.
- 29.6% of FTSE 250 board positions are held by women, a 4.7% increase from 2018. However, 139 FTSE 250 companies have not yet achieved the 33% target.
- There are still two all-male boards in the FTSE 350, down from five in 2018. There are 39 companies that only have one woman on the board, 28 of which have only had one woman for the second year running.
- Women's representation in senior leadership positions of FTSE 100 companies has increased 1.5% from 2018 to 28.6%. The FTSE 250 has seen a stronger increase, with women's representation increasing 3% to 27.9%. However, there are still 44 all-male executive committees. Despite the improved results compared with 2018, unless half of all available leadership roles go to women this year, the FTSE 350 will not achieve its 2020 target for women in leadership positions.
We covered the Government's update to the Hampton-Alexander Review in our Q3 2019 G&SL newsletter at page 5.
The Hampton-Alexander review can be found here.
The Hampton-Alexander review press release can be found here.
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