Great Britain: more than 1/3 of FTSE 350 companies have female board members

On 22 September the government proudly announced that the historic threshold of 33% female board representation has now been reached for the first time, and three months ahead of the target December 2020 deadline as set by the government-sponsored Hampton-Alexander review in 2016. The 2016 review launched a call for companies to voluntarily mobilise and raise female board representation (c.f. article No.11200). Although a 3.8% increase in women on the boards of directors compared to 2019 has accelerated the trend, companies can still do more. “While I am pleased that the FTSE 350 as a whole has finally hit this historic landmark, more than 100 of the UK’s top companies have failed to meet the target,” regretted Enterprise Minister Alok Sharma. Thus, despite this positive overall result, more than 4 out of 10 major FTSE 350 companies still do not have 33% female board representation. Furthermore, there remains one company with an all-male board of directors as well as 18 boards of directors with only one female member (‘one and done’ boards). It should be noted that in February 2020, the government had already announced that 33% of women held seats on the boards of directors of companies in the FTSE 100 stock market index, which represented a first decisive step (c.f. article No.11645).