Monday, July 30, 2007
Lack of women in boardroom 'a competitive disadvantage'
By Christopher Adams
Published: July 30 2007, FT
Companies without women in senior boardroom roles are at "a competitive disadvantage" and should ask themselves where their talented employees have gone, says Kitty Ussher.
With women counting for just 2 per cent of the top jobs in FTSE-100 companies, equality campaigners have forecast that it will take 40 years before they reach the same level of representation as men in the boardroom despite accounting for almost half the workforce.And, in London's financial district, it is claimed that harassment and sexual discrimination remain commonplace. The courts have seen a string of alleged "sexism in the City" cases.
Ms Ussher, though steering clear of the court cases, said at least one chief executive had raised the under-representation of women at the top of UK companies "as something that needs to be addressed". "My view on this has always been . . . that companies will do best if they recruit the best talent and they keep the best talent," she said. "And, if they're not keeping some of their talent pool, that puts them at a disadvantage.
"If I was a CEO and I found people, predominantly but not totally mothers and parents of young children, deciding to leave at a certain stage in their life, I would say, 'Why are we losing the talent?'
"If you flip it around the other way, there's also an issue about certain sectors of society not getting access to credit. Why is it that people from certain ethnic backgrounds or a certain gender are not succeeding so well as entrepreneurs and there's actually no factual evidence that they are less capable?" ¶ 11:37 PM
Published: July 30 2007, FT
Companies without women in senior boardroom roles are at "a competitive disadvantage" and should ask themselves where their talented employees have gone, says Kitty Ussher.
With women counting for just 2 per cent of the top jobs in FTSE-100 companies, equality campaigners have forecast that it will take 40 years before they reach the same level of representation as men in the boardroom despite accounting for almost half the workforce.And, in London's financial district, it is claimed that harassment and sexual discrimination remain commonplace. The courts have seen a string of alleged "sexism in the City" cases.
Ms Ussher, though steering clear of the court cases, said at least one chief executive had raised the under-representation of women at the top of UK companies "as something that needs to be addressed". "My view on this has always been . . . that companies will do best if they recruit the best talent and they keep the best talent," she said. "And, if they're not keeping some of their talent pool, that puts them at a disadvantage.
"If I was a CEO and I found people, predominantly but not totally mothers and parents of young children, deciding to leave at a certain stage in their life, I would say, 'Why are we losing the talent?'
"If you flip it around the other way, there's also an issue about certain sectors of society not getting access to credit. Why is it that people from certain ethnic backgrounds or a certain gender are not succeeding so well as entrepreneurs and there's actually no factual evidence that they are less capable?" ¶ 11:37 PM
