More than 50 per cent of FTSE 350 board appointments in 2021 were women
More than 50 per cent of board appointments to FTSE 350 firms last year were women, bringing the gender ratio closer to an even split.
New figures from recruitment company MBS, show boardrooms are becoming more equal places, with a gain of 200 women in 2021, and men constituting 75 per cent of those having have departed.
Among the high profile appointments in the last 12 months, were chief executive roles for women in the retail sector, with Greggs, Pets and Marks & Spencer, all following the trend.
The data outlines that the split of women to men in non-executive roles is now 43 to 57 per cent, with a prediction there will be an equal balance of men to women on the FTSE 250 within two years.
Despite the shift in board appointments, the report highlighted that the vast majority, 80 per cent, of new charing roles in FTSE 350 were to men, which was put down to experience.
Following news that 48 per cent of FSTE 350 chair roles were women, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said British firms had made “enormous progress in recent years to ensure that everyone, whatever their background, can succeed on merit – and today’s findings highlight this with more women at the top table of Britain’s biggest companies than ever before.
“However, we should not rest on our laurels, and the FTSE Women Leaders Review will build on the success so far of our voluntary, business-led approach to increasing women’s representation on boards and in leadership, without the need for mandatory quotas.
Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary and Party Chair said the party would back women in business but it “cannot be complacent about the challenges women still faced today.”