One of the surprising findings from this year's
FT−ICSA Boardroom Bellwether relates to women on boards.
Nearly half of the FTSE 350 company secretaries who responded to
the survey said that their boards do not meet Lord Davies'
target of having a quarter female representation. This target was
met in the FTSE 100 in 2015, but has since stagnated, with women on
the largest 100 boards now making up just over 26%.
Given that a target for the FTSE 250 has only recently been put
in place, some outliers would be expected. But what is really
surprising is that, of those who have not met the 25% target, more
than a third have no plans in place to do so before January
2018.
Meanwhile, over a third – 39% – have no plans to do
so at all. Such a lack of urgency is worrying. Sir Philip Hampton
and Dame Helen Alexander, who took over from Lord Mervyn Davies at
the head of the Women on Boards review last year, recently set much
more demanding targets. The new goals are for
