Women leaders on the continent have the largest share of global boardroom seats, led by France (43.2%), followed by Norway (42.4%) and Italy (36.6%), according to a new global report by Deloitte, Women in the boardroom: A global perspective.

The UK entered the top 10 global ranking, moving from 13th to 9th place since the report was last published in 2019. However, despite the 7.4% increase of women holding UK board seats, the UK’s boardroom diversity lags behind six European countries as well as New Zealand and South Africa.

Jackie Henry, managing partner people and purpose, Deloitte UK, said: ‘Board diversity is a demonstration of an organisation’s commitment to inclusion. Whilst the number of board seats held by women in the UK is moving in the right direction, we’re still a long way behind our European neighbours with leaders France only 6.8% short of gender parity.

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