Cameron calls for boardroom equality

Feb 10 Cameron calls for boardroom equality

Prime minister David Cameron has spoken out over the lack of top jobs being made available to women in the UK, arguing that such an approach is stifling the economy.

Back in February 2011, Lord Davies set out the ambitious targeting of increasing the number of women on boards in the UK by 25 per cent by 2015.

Progress has been slow, however, with a mere 14.2 per cent of FTSE 100 board members being female in October 2011, up from 12.5 per cent in 2010.

The increase in women on FTSE 250 boards, meanwhile, has been even slower at just 8.9 per cent, rising from 7.8 per cent in 2010.

This news has prompted an impassioned plea from the prime minister, who suggested that promoting more women would help to improve performance.

He has, in fact, warned that the UK may be forced to introduce gender quotas to redress the unequal balance seen in boardrooms.

Speaking at a meeting in Scandinavia, Mr Cameron explained: "The evidence is that there is a positive link between women in leadership and business performance, so if we fail to unlock the potential of women in the labour market, we're not only failing those individuals, we're failing our whole economy."

Mr Cameron hailed the approaches of Norway and Sweden on this issue, pointing out that they have led the way in terms of boardroom equality.

"So I want to get ideas in Stockholm that we can take back to London to explore if they could help us get more women into British boardrooms, boosting profits and contributing to the economic growth we all urgently need," he said.

In Norway, for example, women must make up at least 40 per cent of boards. 

The talent management programmes devised by Silent Edge can help firms to embrace workplace diversity as a way of driving the company forward.