Girls occupy two out of 5 board seats at FTSE 350 corporations, reaching the goal three years early, in response to a government-backed marketing campaign to encourage extra feminine illustration in govt roles.

The annual FTSE Girls Leaders Overview discovered 40.2 per cent of administrators on the UK’s largest listed corporations have been girls final 12 months, surpassing the voluntary threshold set for 2025, and up from simply 9.5 per cent 11 years in the past.

The successor to the Hampton-Alexander and Davies Opinions discovered that nearly a fifth of FTSE 350 boards have a lady chair, though there have been simply 21 feminine chief executives throughout the principle listed markets.

The FTSE 100 listed corporations with the very best proportion of feminine board representatives included drinks group Diageo, on-line automotive market Auto Dealer and water firm Severn Trent.

Regardless of having a feminine chief govt, drugmaker GSK had the bottom variety of girls on its board of all of the blue-chip corporations, adopted by retailer Frasers Group, funding supervisor St James’s Place and mining firm Antofagasta.

The hushed, water-cooler dialog on the dearth of ladies from yesteryear has advanced right into a core and demanding enterprise subject.

The marketing campaign stated the main focus over the following three years could be to encourage extra girls to be appointed to the most important company roles, equivalent to chief govt and finance director.

Denise Wilson, chief govt of the FTSE Girls Leaders Overview, stated the “hushed, water-cooler dialog on the dearth of ladies from yesteryear has advanced right into a core and demanding enterprise subject”. 

She added that UK feminine illustration was now second solely to France globally, the place a 40 per cent board membership quota for ladies has been in place since 2017, which she described as a “vital achievement” for a voluntary scheme.

The evaluate concluded there was “nonetheless extra to do” to carry feminine illustration on FTSE 350 govt committees, which stood at 27 per cent final 12 months. The variety of all-male govt committees within the FTSE 350 fell to 10 from 54 in 2017.

Information masking the highest 50 non-public UK corporations was included within the report for the primary time with the proportion of ladies on boards averaging about 31 per cent.

The evaluate discovered greater ranges of divergence, nevertheless, with a 3rd reporting greater than 40 per cent of administrators have been girls, whereas greater than half reported feminine illustration nicely under the common.

A number of corporations, equivalent to retailer John Lewis, development firm Laing O’Rourke and constructing society Nationwide, had excessive ranges of feminine illustration in senior administration positions. However 19 corporations had boards that have been both all male or included only one girl director.

The report’s authors stated making direct comparisons with board degree illustration at listed corporations was troublesome due to the distinction in the best way prime degree administration was structured at some non-public companies.

The proportion of ladies at FTSE 100 corporations under the boardroom degree — masking the gender steadiness on govt committees and managers who report on to govt committee — elevated to 34.3 per cent, up from 32.5 per cent in 2021. Girls made up 41 per cent of profitable candidates for all accessible roles final 12 months.

Within the FTSE 250, the variety of girls within the management groups elevated to 33 per cent, up from 30.1 per cent in 2021, with 40 per cent of management roles going to girls. For the highest 50 non-public corporations, the determine for the manager committee, and direct studies, stood at 34.3 per cent.

The evaluate discovered that throughout the FTSE 350, 1,202 of the three,000 board seats and 6,660 of the 20,000 management roles have been held by girls.

Of the 50 non-public corporations requested to participate within the survey, six didn’t present any information, together with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos, JCB, the corporate owned by the Bamford household, wholesaler Bestway and retailer New Look.