Government supports review of women on boards

The Government has given its backing to a new five-year review to monitor women’s representation on the boards of leading companies.

The FTSE Women Leaders Review follows on from the final report of the government-backed Hampton Alexander Review, which ran from 2015 to 2020. Although this passed its 33% target, with over a third (34.3%) of FTSE350 board positions being held by women – an increase of 50% in five years – and the number of ‘one and done’ boards – with only one woman member – fell, there is concern that much of the improvement has come as the result of non-executive directors rather than women who have been promoted from within companies.

The FTSE Women Leaders Review is an independent, business-led framework supported by the Government, which sets recommendations for Britain’s largest companies to improve the representation of Women on Boards and in Leadership positions. The Review captures gender data for over 23,000 employees on boards and in leadership roles two layers below the board, across all sectors of British business. It adopts a voluntary approach, encouraging progress, the sharing best practice and collects and publishes leadership gender data on an annual basis.

The Review opened its online portal for FTSE companies to submit their gender diversity data this week. New leadership is currently being appointed to steer the review and take forward new targets over the coming years.

The Review’s full report on the progress of FTSE 350 boards and their leadership teams, in the aggregate and by an individual company, will be published in February 2022.

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