‘UK needs 1.5m women managers’

The UK needs 1.5m new female managers in order to achieve a 50/50 split of management jobs between men and women by 2024, according to the Chartered Management Institute.

The CMI says the problem is that many women don’t make it past junior management despite research showing the business benefits of gender diversity. The CMI’s 2016 National Management Salary Survey shows that while 73% of entry-level roles are occupied by women, this reduces to just 43% of women in middle management roles.

To address this it is launching CMI Women, a new initiative that aims to achieve gender parity across the UK’s management population by 2024 and address the productivity gap by helping employers to identify the measures they can take to achieve gender balance, such as flexible working policies, line manager skills development, mentoring and balanced recruitment.

To launch CMI Women, the CMI has created a ‘Blueprint for Balance’, an innovative open source tool that helps organisations achieve 50/50 management.  The tool is a free online resource that allows employers to share information and learn from others the practices and policies that have helped improve gender balance in their organisations.

Ann Francke, CEO at CMI, said: “Unlocking the ‘missing middle’ of women managers is essential as UK businesses face up to the challenge of tackling the productivity gap that currently leaves us lagging 21% behind our G7 competitors. In the run-up to Brexit we must do everything we can to support business growth to ensure the UK can stand alone, and it’s clear that women are still the primary untapped resource in the workplace.

“Through CMI Women we will provide organisations with a Blueprint for Balance, while also enabling individuals to play their part in accelerating their own careers and supporting others to do the same. It is by working together in this way that we can find the solutions needed to find the 1.5 million extra women managers we’ll need by 2024 to achieve the gender balance that is critical for future UK business success.”

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