UK boardrooms have seen a marginal increase in
women board members since 2009, but just 3% of privately held
businesses have a female CEO, according to a survey by Grant
Thornton UK.
According to the firm’s International Business
Report (IBR) the number of female CEO’s falls short of a 10%
average across the European Union, but reveals that British women
occupy 23% of board positions in private companies.
The UK ranks 5th of the 13 surveyed European
Union countries on proportion of women boardroom members, edging
ahead of Spain and Italy at 22% and France at 21%. Poland has the
highest number of women senior managers seen in the EU at 31% and
Sweden at 30%.
The survey follows a report released last
month by Lord Davis called Women on Boards, which
recommends the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) amends the UK
corporate governance code to ensure listed companies establish
policy to create more diversity in the boardroom.
