The female FTSE board report 2021: inclusion works for everyone

This year we see further progress in terms of the number of women on corporate boards. The percentage of women in FTSE 100 boards is 38% and the parallel figure for FTSE 250 boards is 35%, so all boards in aggregate have met and indeed exceeded the target set by Hampton-Alexander. In total, women hold 393 directorships across FTSE 100 boards. The percentage of female Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) stands at 44.4%, an all time high, in comparison to the percentage of female Executive Directors (EDs) which has flatlined for a second year, running at 13.7%. A similar picture is evident across FTSE 250 boards where women hold 688 directorships and 41.2% of the NED roles, but only 11.3% of the ED roles. There continues to be considerable variance across the boards, indicating that 21% of the FTSE 100 boards and 32% of FTSE 250 boards have yet to reach the Hampton-Alexander target of 33% women on their boards. This highlights the drawback to voluntary targets and prompts whether it is time to make these targets mandatory