By Daniel Hunter
Figures released from The Cranfield School of Management outline that FTSE firms are on course to hit female boardroom quotas, but failing to hire females for exec positions, further outlining the need for more drastic measures towards workplace equality, says Beatrice Bartlay, SME founder and owner.
The statistics reveal that women now make up 15 per cent of FTSE 250 board positions, which is the highest proportion since the survey began in 1999 and in the last six months, 30 per cent of new FTSE 250 appointments went to females.
Beatrice Bartlay, Managing Director and Founder of 2B Interface, a specialist recruitment agency commented: “The figures show real promise and although the proportion of females on boards is still quite low, the new hire figures show great potential. However, it comes into question whether boardroom quotas are really having an effect on the greater issue of gender inequality in the workplace when we see that only 12 per cent of new executives to FTSE 100 companies in the past year were female.”
In June this year, Bartlay called for more focus to be placed on ensuring women are advancing into middle-management positions in order to pave the way for them to then progress to more senior levels, such as board positions. Bartlay added, “Before setting the quotas, there should have been realistic suggestions for boosting women into managerial and senior positions, in order to then proceed board level.
“Organisations need to be focusing on ensuring gender equality is predominant throughout the entirety of their business, not just at the top, and that it is of the upmost importance. Without women progressing through the ranks at all stages, there is no assurance that boardroom quotas will be met, or sustained,” concluded Bartlay.
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