Slump harms FTSE’s women
THE number of women in the UK’s top boardrooms has been hit by the recession, according to a new report released yesterday.
The Female FTSE Index and Report, published by Cranfield University School of Management, said there had been a “discouraging decline” in the number of FTSE 100 companies with female executive directors over the course of 2009, falling from 16 to 15.
The number of companies on the index with multiple women board directors has also fallen from 39 to 37 over the year.
Sarah Churchman, director of diversity at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the report was a “wake-up call” for British businesses.
Churchman said: “The worst case scenario is that the by-product of the recession is to stall or reverse gender diversity progress and investment across business, and not just in listed firms – thus short changing the UK economy’s recovery by removing or alienating a generation of female talent.”
Investment firm Alliance Trust and fashion group Burberry have the highest proportion of women directors in the FTSE 100.
Alliance Trust has Katherine Garrett-Cox as chief executive and Lesley Knox as chairman, while Burberry’s chief executive is Angela Ahrendts and its finance director Stacey Cartwright. Both firms also have one female non-executive director.
The report comes just days after the appointment of Alison Cooper as chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, making her the youngest out of the five women running FTSE 100 companies.
The other two women heads of the UK’s top companies are Cynthia Carroll at miner Anglo American and Dame Marjorie Scardino, of publisher Pearson.