Great Britain: investors increasingly more vociferous over the gender gap

The Investment Association, a trade body representing UK investment managers, has written to 63 companies listed on the FTSE 350 criticizing them for the lack of female participation on their supervisory and management boards (BoM). In the letter the IA has called on these major companies to explain how they were working towards improving gender balance and encouraged them to reach the goal of 33% female management board participation by the end of the year, as per the Hampton-Alexander Review recommendation (c.f. article No. 11645). In a first, the IA specifically exhorted 35 UK companies with wholly male management boards to act. The IA also finally announcement that as part of its investor advice it was going to assign a ‘red-top’ to companies with fewer than 20% female BoM participation, whereas until now this was only assigned to companies with no females or just one female on a BoM. “Investment managers have been clear in the fact that they want at a minimum to see companies reach this gender diversity goal. Those not reaching the target risk meeting with opposition (from investors) during the general assembly period.”