Smaller FTSE firms still failing on boardroom diversity

theguardian.com:

Half of the smaller 252 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange have no female executive leaders such as chief executives and chief financial officers despite the push for boardroom diversity, new research shows.

Nearly half of these smaller firms are also missing the target of having a third of their board roles occupied by women, and three-quarters of their boards are entirely white.

Campaign group Women on Boards UK analysed diversity at listed companies on the LSE which are too small for the FTSE 350 All-Share index of the largest companies traded in London. Its second annual report found that 50% of these smaller firms have all-male leadership teams.

That’sdown from 54% last year but still “shockingly high” when compared with companies in the FTSE 350 (which includes the blue-chip FTSE 100) where only 4.6% have all-male executive leadership teams, the group said.

Only 16% of board chairs at the smaller 252 companies are women, and even fewer chief executives, just 7%, are female – signalling no change since 2021.

This matters because companies with female CEOs have significantly more women on their executive leadership teams than those run by men. Female CEOs had an average of 55% representation of women on their executive leadership teams, versus 14% for the companies with male CEOs.

“Those women don’t have a traditional view of what a leader looks like and are likely to be more inclusive and supportive,” said Fiona Hathorn, chief executive of Women on Boards.

“There remains a high number of firms yet to reach even the most minimal levels of diverse representation, at both executive and non-executive level. To these firms I say, catch up – and quickly.”

The recruitment consultant Robert Walters, the housing and