Women break into FTSE 100 boardrooms

THE number of FTSE 100 firms with no female directors at boardroom level has more than halved in the past year, according to new research.

Campaigners for more diversity at the top of British industry were yesterday encouraged by statistics which showed public companies had made great strides towards a government-backed target for 25 per cent female representation in FTSE 100 boardrooms by 2015.

According to the Professional Boards Forum – an organisation set up in 2009 to help match companies with female senior managers – 15 per cent of FTSE 100 directors are now women, up from 12.5 per cent last year.

There has been a particularly sharp fall in the number of male-only boards over the past 12 months, from 21 to ten, although Glasgow-based Aggreko is among a minority – predominantly miners and energy companies – that continues to be dominated by men.

More than one in four appointments to Footsie boards since March have been women, according to the forum’s “CompanyWatch” report. In the FTSE 250, this statistic was even higher, with a quarter of new recruits being female candidates.

However, on the whole FTSE 250 companies are still faring badly on diversity, with 46 per cent sticking to all-male boards and only 9.2 per cent of directorships held by women.

Among the female candidates recruited to FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 boards in the past year was Katie Bickerstaffe, who joined energy giant SSE as a non-executive director.

Aberdeen Asset Management added two women to its board, Julie Chakraverty and Anne Richards, while Royal Bank of Scotland appointed Alison Davis and Baroness Noakes to its top tier of management. Another Scottish company that made headway in this area was Weir Group, which took on Melanie Gee as a non-executive director in May.

Elin Hurvenes, founder of Professional Boards Forum, said public companies in the UK are making good progress towards targets drawn up last year by former minister Lord Davies of Abersoch. The Davies report stopped short of compulsory quotas – such as those set in countries such as Norway – but urged FTSE 100 firms to meet a voluntary target of 25 per cent female representation by 2015.

Hurvenes said: “There has never been a shortage of talent – only a lack of recognition of the skills and experience that women can bring to UK boards.

“The pool of board-ready women is impressive and chairmen have definitely started to recognise this.”

So far 15 FTSE companies have met the full Davies requirement.