Women now hold the majority of non-executive board roles for the first time, data shows, but men still hold most of the executive director positions.
The 2021 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index – a review of governance practice in the FTSE 150 on 30 April 2021, excluding investment trusts – found women now represent 51% of all non-executive directors, up from 18%, 10 years ago. For the first time since tracking began, the number of non-executive positions occupied by women was 442, exceeding those occupied by men (422), and women occupied more than a third (36%) of all board roles, up from 34% in 2020.
However, the analysis found the majority (86%) of executive directors were male, with men holding all four senior board positions in 64 of the top 150 companies.
There has also been progress in diversity among FTSE boards; the report found in the last year, the number of appointments of directors with a minority ethnic background increased by more than 40%.
In 2017, the Parker Review called for FTSE 100 firms to commit to “One by 21” and have at least one director from a minority ethnic background on their boards by December 2021. According to the Spencer Stuart analysis, three in five (61%) FTSE 150 firms had at least one minority ethnic director sitting on their board, but 39% – the equivalent of 59 companies – had no minority ethnic representation.