Manage HR Magazine | Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Data from Stoxx 600 businesses shows a smaller number of women changing boards, but the total share remains stable. The measures being taken are not enough.
FREMONT, CA: Focusing on gender equality in boardrooms may not be enough to achieve enough female representation in business life. The newest female directorship data from Stoxx 600 businesses shows a smaller number of women changing board, but the total share remains stable. This raises issues about the talent pipeline and if the emphasis should be on executive jobs rather than boardroom ones.
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Ashley Hamilton Claxton, investing head at Royal London Asset Management says that looking at the board will lead to failure. Getting enough senior women with the proper skills and expertise to sit on boards is a problem and might persist if we will not look that through.
Boardroom gender quotas have been adopted in many European nations, including Germany, France, and Italy. The area has a stronger representation of women on boards than the US. Executive board or even middle management quotas, however, remain controversial. Bloomberg reports that four Stoxx 600 businesses lowered the number of female directors last month. The leaving women from BHP Group Plc, Swedbank AB, and Abrdn Plc joined other boards. The average number of female directors on each board remained at four.
Susan Kilsby and Anita Frew left BHP's board due to other obligations, the firm stated in. Kilsby also chairs Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. and serves on the boards of Unilever, Diageo, and NHS England. Frew, the first female chair of Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, also chairs Croda International Plc.
Josefin Lindstrand departed Swedbank to take other directorships in the financial technology and products business, while Melanie Gee quit Abrdn to become head of Grosvenor Britain and Ireland. She chairs Syncona Ltd. Five Stoxx 600 businesses added female board members this month. According to Bloomberg, women had one more board seat in October than the previous month, marking the weakest rise in three months.
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