The number of women in the United Kingdom’s Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 boardroom positions has increased to close to 40 percent, a significant increase from 12.5 percent a decade ago.
The new statistic could mean that the UK is second in international rankings for board representation. But experts in gender equality say the numbers are a bit misleading.
In a new report published today by the UK government-backed FTSE Women Leader Review, 39.1 percent of FTSE 100 boardroom roles are held by women in 2022. Two years ago in 2020, that number was at 36.2 percent, and in 2016, it was at 26.6 percent, according to data collected by other studies.
The 2022 Sex and Power Index was a new review that set out recommendations to build upon the progress that has been made. The UK government says that the report’s findings demonstrate a major sea-change in attitudes to getting women leaders to the top table of business in the country.
However, gender experts and women’s equality advocates have said it’s not time to celebrate quite yet, because the figures fail to capture the “shocking lack of diversity,” calling out the lack of women of color, disabled women, and LGBTQ people in these positions of power.
Fawcett Society’s chief executive Jemima Olchawski said that while she welcomed the progress, “the devil is in the detail,” and that in the majority of boardrooms, men continue to be overrepresented.
Investigating the statistics, women make up only eight of the chief executives in the top 100 listed companies in the UK. Experts argue that while there is progress being made in terms of gender targets, women holding senior leadership roles have not been advanced nearly enough.
The FTSE 100 figures place the United Kingdom only behind France in the international ranking of a dozen similar countries. The UK was in fifth place in 2021.
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