More women in the Boardroom needed

“We welcome Lord Davies focus on a voluntary approach. His review marks the start of a process. It is the right start, but everyone involved in the governance of British firms now needs to step back and recognise that there needs to be a fundamental shift in established perceptions of what a great board member looks like. 

That is the only way we will ensure we get to and beyond the 20% target swiftly and in a sustainable way.“That means far more than setting internal targets and filling them in a tick-box way. 

From my own experience in business, I know that a range of opinions, backgrounds and perspectives is always better than what is often referred to as ‘group think’.  But I also know that we face a challenge to some severely entrenched attitudes in many boardrooms.  I was once told a startling story by a woman who, being interviewed for a non-executive director role at a FTSE 100 firm, was told: ‘Don’t worry; we’re not interviewing you because you’re a woman. We’ve already got one of those’.  It is precisely that kind of tokenism and numbers game we need to avoid for setting targets which are achievable and realistic for the marketplace in which they are operating. They then need to create frameworks and infrastructures which will help nurture and develop top female talent.

Although women make up half of the population and more than half of university graduates, they remain woefully under-represented at board level.  What is needed is cultural change, which fosters the leadership development of women in middle management, not quotas, ratios or tokenism. 

Flexibility allows firms to set targets that reflect the realities of their market place, and is more effective.

The real solution lies within companies, shareholders, the government and the recruitment profession working together to deliver the changes that will help women to achieve these board-level positions.  Businesses which have diverse boardrooms are more empowered to serve diverse markets across a wide variety of sectors. 

Boardroom diversity is no longer an option but a critical part of the growth strategy of many businesses in order to remain competitive both in the UK and abroad.