PwC UK would like half of its partners to be
female or from an ethnic background, PwC chairman Ian Powell
said.
Currently 13 to 14% of all partners are women
and that there is a strong need to rebalance that, Powell said in
an interview with a British newspaper.
“We take on over a thousand graduates a year
and the number of women is in the high forties in terms of
percentage. That is reflected up to a relatively senior level but
we have not been good enough at attracting women back into the
workplace [after a career break for children],” Powell
explained.
Powell also said that PwC wants other
under-represented groups – such as those on the basis of religion,
race or disability – are also part of the programme.
“We know that 50% of business start-ups are
now by women or ethnic minorities. This makes commercial sense”, he
said.
PwC is expected to make further announcements
on how it plans to tackle this goal as more pressure is put on
businesses to increase the number of women at senior level.
