Thursday 31 January 2013

Women Boards

Business Secretary Vince Cable has called on the chairman and CEOs of the last seven FTSE 100 firms with all-male boards, urging them to increase the number of women in the boardroom.
The Business Secretary penned a letter asked the remaining companies Antofagasta, Croda, Glencore, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Melrose and Vedanta, to explain what steps they have taken to up their female board representation and how they plan to make engender greater boardrooms diversity.
Cable said:
‘Over the last two and a half years we have seen real progress in the number of talented women reaching the boards of our top companies. During that time the number of all-male boards has fallen from 21 to the last seven remaining today, with the welcome news from mining giant Randgold being the latest step. My vision by 2015 is that Britain will not have a single FTSE 100 board without a significant female presence.’
‘Businesses should be making sure they have the right people around their top table. This is not about equality, this is about good governance and good business. The international evidence supports this: diverse boards are better boards benefiting from fresh perspectives, opinions and new ideas which ultimately serve the company's long term interests.’
‘I do recognise that for some businesses, like those in the mining and extractives industry in particular, there are unique challenges in diversifying their boards with the right experience. The frequent travel and project based work in remote areas of the world have all been cited as barriers to appointing more women in the past. However, successful modern companies learn to adapt and survive and doing nothing is not an option anymore. We've seen examples again today that this can be done and I am determined to see further action.’
Mining giant, Randgold Resources recently announced that Jeanine Mabunda Lioko has joined its board as a non-executive director.
In line with the efforts to increase boardroom diversity, last week Vince Cable announced that three of the five appointments to the Business Bank Advisory Group will be female.
In addition, he also announced that Dale Murray was the latest female non-executive appointment to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Departmental Board. Seven of the 21 attending the Departmental Board, and four of the nine attending the Executive Board, are female.
The number of all-male FTSE 100 boards has fallen from 21 in 2010.
In early January, Cynthia Carroll announced that she will step down from her role as Anglo American’s chief executive after six years at the helm.
Her exit left just two female bosses in the FTSE 100.
Carrol argued against the 'tokenism' of female CEO’s stressing the need for companies to 'develop' women so that they are 'capable of delivering and doing the job effectively'.
The latest Cranfield School of Management report (March 2012) into female executives showed an increase in the number of female-held directorships after a three-year plateau.
Released a year after the publication of the Davies report – which recommended at least 25% of board roles in FTSE 100 companies by 2015 should be held by women - the findings saw current figures at 15.6%.
Should that trend continue, the report predicts the minimum recommendations set by the Davies report, will be achieved with 26.7% of directors being female by 2015, and 36.9% five years further down the line.

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