Why don’t investors care about women on boards?
Less than a quarter of institutional investors have said that they believe gender diversity on management boards is important, according to a new survey out today.
Hermes Investment management’s annual Responsible Capitalism survey found that only 23 per cent of institutional decision-makers said that they placed importance on gender diversity at the board level, despite recent efforts by the likes of Lord Davies to increase the number of women in high-level positions.
Commenting on the survey, Harriet Steel, head of business development at Hermes, said: “On the surface, the corporate world is making great strides in improving its record on diversity.”
But she added: “The results are disappointing and show there is some way before the glass ceiling is cracked in the board room and on issues of pay.
“There have been a number of high-profile campaigns to improve diversity on boards, notably from groups such as the 30% Club.
“While these campaigns have achieved some progress, it is clear UK plc is still poorly diversified at senior management level,” she added.
The Davies Review’s annual report for this year showed that the percentage of women in executive level positions has increased from 5.5 per cent to 8.6 per cent in the past five years.