Women now hold nearly two in five FTSE 100 leadership roles

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There has been a ‘sea-change’ in the boardrooms of the UK’s biggest companies, with nearly 40% of FTSE 100 leadership positions now held by women, compared with 12.5% a decade ago.
The data, published by the government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review, shows that in 2021 women held 39.1% of board positions among FTSE 100 companies, 36.8% in the FTSE 250, and 37.6% of positions among the FTSE 350.
This progress has led to the UK FTSE 100 moving from fifth to second in international gender diversity rankings among listed companies, putting it ahead of Norway whose listed companies have a mandatory quota system in place. France still leads the way, with 43.8% female representation at board level. The FTSE 350 is in fourth place.
However, the report recognises more work needs to be done and has set several new targets for 2025, including the recommendation that all FTSE 350 companies have at least one woman in the chair or senior independent director role, and/or one woman in the chief executive or finance director role.
Denise Wilson, FTSE Women Leaders Review chief executive, said: “Today the FTSE Women Leaders Review announces four new recommendations for this next stage, which will embed the progress and hard-won gains of the last decade and take business further on the journey to gender balance in the boardroom and in leadership.

“We know there is much more work to do and no shortage of experienced, capable women, ambitious for themselves and their company across all sectors