China 31: UK 23

Women are making little progress in the boardrooms of UK businesses, occupying just 23 per cent of board positions.

The UK ranks fifth out of 13 European Union countries surveyed on proportion of female boardroom members, according to accounting firm Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR).

Poland has the highest number of women senior managers in the EU at 31 per cent, followed by Sweden at 30 per cent.

The UK also lags behind emerging economies China and Brazil, where women occupy 31 per cent and 29 per cent of boardroom seats respectively. The survey of 500 UK businesses finds that only 3 per cent of companies are being led by a female CEO, well below the average of 10 per cent across the EU.

Sacha Romanovitvh, head of people and skills at Grant Thornton says, “Private companies make up the backbone of UK plc and it is a poor reflection on the whole economy that the improvement on this issue is so minimal. The UK risks falling behind other economies if gender equality in the boardroom is not addressed.”

Gareth Osborne of APA says: “Life choices such as having children should not be a barrier for women to excel and progress in the workplace and sufficient provisions need to be made by employers to enable all talent to progress, whatever their personal circumstances.”

 
APA