Corporate UK is missing out on a £13bn ‘gender dividend’ because companies are still failing to get enough women into top roles, with no real progress since 2016 and just 16% of FTSE 350 executive committees female, a proportion which has not changed in two years, according to research from diversity consultancy the Pipeline
Its annual research shows nearly a quarter of FTSE 350 companies have no women on their executive committees. Analysing all profit and loss (P&L) roles on executive committees in the FTSE 350, Pipeline found 95% are held by men, and just 5% by women, while 63% of companies have no women in P&L roles. It says this matters as P&L roles are springboard jobs for advancement to CEO.
Pipeline says the results are low regardless of industry sector. The only sector that is slightly higher than the FTSE 350 is wholesale and retail trade, a reflection of the high percentage of women they employ compared to other sectors. At the other end of the scale, manufacturing, mining and construction continue to be in the bottom quartile.
Overall, 92% of executive directors on FTSE 350 main boards are men, whereas only 8% are women, reducing significantly the chance of increasing the number of female CEO’s in the FTSE.
Pipeline says the percentage of women executives on main boards has flatlined between 2017 and 2018, pointing out that 248 FTSE 350 companies have no women executives on their main board.
In most cases where there are women executive directors on the main board, there is only one. Only seven companies have two or more women executive directors on the main board.
Most (95%) of chairs of main boards are men, with only 5% being women. Only six companies in the FTSE 100 have women chairs.
Pipeline’s analysis found that when the chair of the main board is a woman, then the average number of women on executive committees is 2.6, compared to 1.5 if the chair is a man.
Where a woman holds a key position, such as CEO, senior independent director (SID), chair of the remuneration committee, or chair of main board, the company is likely to have a larger number of women on executive committees than if the positions were held by men.
The research also found that companies with higher numbers of women executives have lower median pay gaps. Those with women CEOs have an average median pay gap between men and women of 11%, compared to 17.4% when the CEO is a man.
Women Count 2018 report is here.
Report by Pat Sweet
