The FINANCIAL — FTSE 350 companies are falling short of their targets for female appointments in the boardroom. For them to meet the 2020 government-backed targets they will have to make more than 40% of their appointments over the next two years go to women.
According to figures released by the Hampton-Alexander review on Wednesday, companies are still far away from achieving the long-term goal of having 33% female boardrooms. There are still ten firms which have boards that are entirely male.
Women hold 29% of the boardroom positions in FTSE 100 companies, which puts them on track to meet the government targets by 2020, according to Shareprices.com The FTSE 350 though is lagging far behind. The ten companies that still are yet to appoint any women since the introduction of the target are Sports Direct, Baillie Gifford Japan Trust, Herald Investment Trust, Stobart Group, JP Morgan Japanese Investment Trust, Daejan Holdings, On the Beach Group, Ti Fluid Systems and TBC Bank.
Labor MP Rachel Reeves said that the ten companies with all-male boards must drag themselves out of the dark ages. She said that women bring a more diverse and valuable perspective to the running of a business, compared to the old boys’ network. Many of the biggest companies still have a long way to go with regard to the 2020 goals, and progress has so far been at a snail’s pace, with too few women taking the helm of big companies. There is no excuse, today, for having an all male board.
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