Firms told to double the number of women on boards by 2013 or face government measures

By PRSD, on Thursday, February 24, 2011

Women in the boardroom: Lord Davies has called on more women to be in the boardroom. There are no quotas, unless the voluntary measures fail

Lord Davies urged FTSE350 companies to boost the number of women at the board table to 20 per cent by 2013 and 25 per cent by 2015. But he stopped short of quotas, that is unless the voluntary measures fail.

Lord Davies also called on chairmen to announce in the next six months their goals ‘to ensure that more talented and gifted women’, he also said ‘radical change is needed…’

But CISCO VP believes quotas are good.

Amanda Jobbins, CISCO’s vice president of European technology and corporate marketing said: “The issue of quotas to compel UK business to increase the number of female directors on their boards in line with similar initiatives in Norway, France and Spain can only have a positive effect in my view.

“Over the last 10 years in the UK, directorships held by women in the FTSE 100 have increased from 5.8 per cent to 12.5 per cent according to a study by Cranfield. However, at this rate the Equality and Human Rights Commission estimates that it will take 73 years before equal numbers of women and men are in the FTSE 100 Boardrooms!

“Traditionally, many women in senior positions have opposed quotas on the grounds that we should achieve seniority on the basis of our own merits, and while I wholly agree all roles should be appointed on merit, who is determining the definition of merit today? The male incumbents.

“Many studies show that hiring managers have a tendency to hire in their own likeness. We need quotas to accelerate the change.

“At Cisco in the UK we already have 40 per cent of our UK board comprised of females and we are driving many diversity initiatives across the company. A key issue is the behavioral and mind set change required towards more flexible working environments that can leverage female talent. To change business recruiting and promotional trajectories to ensure companies have women at senior levels in the company, is simply going to take too long and there are many reasons, not least the ethical reason, to speed up that progress. Quotas will achieve that acceleration.”

Over at Pertemps, managing director Carmen Watson has a different perspective.

“Drawing on my years of experience as a senior director of the UK’s largest independent recruitment company, I do not feel that boardroom quotas are the solution,” she said.

“Quotas are not inherently good because both men and women on boards both need to feel that the women have earned their way to the top.

“It is counterproductive if women are put on boards just to fill quotas, as the impact they will have on major company decisions to help shape and form company policy, will be diminished. That said, businesses should be held accountable for setting targets which are achievable and realistic for the marketplace in which they are operating. They then need to create frameworks and infrastructures which will help nurture and develop top female talent.

“Although women make up half of the population and more than half of university graduates, they remain woefully under-represented at board level. What is needed is cultural change, which fosters the leadership development of women in middle management, not quotas, ratios or tokenism. Flexibility allows firms to set targets that reflect the realities of their market place, and is more effective.

“The real solution lies within companies, shareholders, the government and the recruitment profession working together to deliver the changes that will help women to achieve these board-level positions.

“Businesses which have diverse boardrooms are more empowered to serve diverse markets across a wide variety of sectors. Boardroom diversity is no longer an option but a critical part of the growth strategy of many businesses in order to remain competitive both in the UK and abroad.”

(from press releases)

(image: Boardroom ready to use Some rights reserved by Lars Plougmann)