Women cracking the glass ceiling in UK boardrooms!!

The UK is making “enormous progress” towards achieving the goal of having 25 per cent female representation on FTSE 100 company boards, Business Secretary Vince Cable has said.

And he warned a meeting of business leaders in London that, unless the voluntary target was met, there was a threat that the European Union could legislate to introduce a compulsory figure.

“Our target of 25 per cent women on boards by 2015 is in sight,” Mr Cable said. “However, the threat of EU mandatory targets remains a reality if we do not meet it.

“Businesses must not take their foot off the pedal during the final stretch. If we are to avoid action from Brussels, we must continue to demonstrate that our voluntary approach is the right one and is working.

“British businesses must keep up the momentum and alarm bells should be ringing in the ears of those FTSE chairs who are not yet doing their bit to improve gender diversity.”

Female representation on FTSE 100 boards has increased from 20.7 per cent in March last year to 22.8 per cent today. A study produced at the meeting named the top 10 companies that had increased the number of women last year.

Those companies were: Old Mutual (up from 0% in 2010 to 38%), Aggreko (0% to 30%), Glaxosmithkline (7.7% to 35.7%), Wolseley (0% to 27.3%), Land Securities (8.3% to 33.3%), Associated British Foods (0% to 22.2%), Capita (22.2% to 44.4%), Petrofac (0% to 22.2%), Weir Group (0% to 22.2%) and HSBC (16.7% to 37.5%).

Lisa Buckingham, senior consultant on diversity at the Institute of Directors, said, “We welcome the progress which has been made in boosting the number of women on company boards.

“The business-led, voluntary approach has succeeded in putting momentum behind the case for diversity, and the 25 per cent target is in sight.

“Naturally, politicians would prefer quicker fixes but the reality is that broad, lasting cultural change does take time to bed in and this won't always fit with an election cycle.

“Diverse teams perform better and those companies that have realised this are reaping the benefits. We must maintain the pressure on companies to improve the pipeline of female executive talent, while also recognising that diversity does not end with gender.”