News News & press releases EHRC Inquiry warns ‘inexcusable and unacceptable’ variation in progress for women on boards 23 MARCH 2016 Today the Equality and Human Rights Commission released findings that show fewer than half (47%) of companies increased their female board representation over the period covered by the inquiry, while 46% of boards either remained the same or even decreased the proportion of women. You can read the full report on the EHRC website. Fawcett CEO Sam Smethers comments: “This important EHRC inquiry reveals just how patchy progress at board level has been. It is unacceptable that almost half of FTSE 100 companies and over half of FTSE 350s have not achieved the 25% target. This is extremely worrying and suggests the more stretching target of 33% will require an additional intervention. “In our view the time-limited use of quotas needs to be part of the solution. International evidence suggests that this approach works. What we need is more representative and more effective boards. It’s time to speed up the pace of change. The voluntary approach just isn’t going to work for many of these companies.” Manage Cookie Preferences
Today the Equality and Human Rights Commission released findings that show fewer than half (47%) of companies increased their female board representation over the period covered by the inquiry, while 46% of boards either remained the same or even decreased the proportion of women. You can read the full report on the EHRC website. Fawcett CEO Sam Smethers comments: “This important EHRC inquiry reveals just how patchy progress at board level has been. It is unacceptable that almost half of FTSE 100 companies and over half of FTSE 350s have not achieved the 25% target. This is extremely worrying and suggests the more stretching target of 33% will require an additional intervention. “In our view the time-limited use of quotas needs to be part of the solution. International evidence suggests that this approach works. What we need is more representative and more effective boards. It’s time to speed up the pace of change. The voluntary approach just isn’t going to work for many of these companies.”