Gender diversity in UK business – all sectors (FTSE) and energy
The Davies report (2015) recommended that UK FTSE 350 boards have at least 33% women on their boards by 2020. The Hampton-Alexander Review (2016) added the same 33% target for senior leadership roles (executive committee members and their direct reports – ie one and two levels down from the board) and also looked at the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250.
The final Hampton-Alexander Review report published in February 2021 and showed that for women on boards both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 had met the 33% target at the beginning of 2020. In February 2022, the FTSE Women Leaders Review was published for the first time, as the third and successor phase to the Hampton-Alexander and Davies Reviews.
Its second and most recent report (published on 28 February 2023), revealed that the 2025 target for 40% women on FTSE 350 boards has been met three years early. Female representation on FTSE350 boards (as at 2022) stands at 40.1%, up from 39.1% in 2021. There is also good progress towards the same target for women in leadership roles (executive committee and their direct reports), which now stands at 34.3% for the FTSE100 (up from 32.5%) and 33% for the FTSE250 (up from 30.7%). The number of all-male executive committees is down to 10 from 54 in 2017 but there are only marginal gains when it comes to the top job of CEO – only 8% of CEO roles in the FTSE350 are occupied by women.
Progress in the FTSE is encouraging (and ahead of the energy sector). But, as the report says, there is much to do in certain key roles, like CEO, Board Chair and Financial Director etc.
UK energy sector only:
Our own analysis at POWERful Women, supported by PwC UK, shows that, as at Q1 2022, women still occupy only 27% of all (executive and non-executive) board seats (up from 24% in 2021) and 15% of executive board positions (up from 14% in 2021).
Just over a third (34%) of UK energy boards have met the old Hampton-Alexander 33% target for 2020, 44% of boards have one or more women on their board but don’t meet the 33% target and 23% of companies have no women on their board at all. When it comes to women in executive director roles on the board, 14% of UK energy companies have boards that meet the PfW target of 30% for this role, 11% of companies have one or more women in executive director roles but don’t meet the 30% target, and 75% of companies have no women in executive director board roles at all.
Find the full 2022 Board Stats for the UK energy industry here, including the press release and the full list of statistics by company.
