Statistics released by the Professional Boards Forums’ BoardWatch highlight that women made up 23 per-cent of FTSE 100 directors (as of December 2014), up from 22.8 per-cent as of October 2014 and 12.5 per-cent as of February 2011 when Lord Davies reported.  The figures also highlight that 31.3 per-cent of all board appointments since 1 March 2014 have been women.  To achieve the target set by Lord Davies, 63 FTSE 100 companies are required to appoint one woman or more.   

FTSE 250 companies are also reporting an increase with 17.7 percent of women directors on their boards (as of December 2014), up from 17.4 percent as of October 2014 and 7.8 percent as of February 2011.  The figures indicate that 31.9 per cent of all board appointments to FTSE 250 companies since March 2014 have been women. 

There are now no all-male boards in the FTSE 100, while the number of all-male boards for FTSE 250 companies has decreased from 28 in October 2014 to 24 in December 2014.

The government has indicated that this represents “excellent progress” and notes that updated statistics will be published in March 2015.

Click for:

• Latest women on boards statistics (Link to Professional Boards Forum BoardWatch website)
• The original Lord Davies Women on Boards report from 2011 (Link to BIS website)
• Our previous UK Accounting Plus story on women on boards