A latest study by Deloitte in collaboration with the 30% Club found that Malaysia has the highest percentage of women chief financial officers among the Asian nations surveyed (34.9 per cent), more than double the global average of 15.7 per cent.
Read more about it here
The UK’s biggest 100 companies are on the brink of hitting 40% female representation at board level.
Our latest stats reveal the FTSE 100 average is 39.9%, as of March 2022.
The FTSE 100 hit the 30% critical mass in September 2019, meaning there has been rapid and significant progress in the past two years.
That’s precisely why our campaign is working with companies all over the world to strive for the 30% mark.
Of course, the real goal is goal is PARITY.
Our minimum UK objectives by 2023 are:
March 2022 saw women’s representation on FTSE 100 boards reach an average of 40% for the first time in history.
While we celebrate this milestone, there is still much work to do across FTSE 250 and 350, not least of which on ethnic representation – only 178 board positions is in the FTSE 350 are held by directors of colour, with just 77 of those positions held by female directors of colour (Parker Review, November 2020).
Furthermore, there are still 38 FTSE 350 companies at less than 30% women on boards. But as of March 2022, there is at only one FTSE 350 company with an all-male board and the number of all-male ExCos is falling.
With just 24% of FTSE 100 Executive Committee roles currently (as of 1 April 2022) held by women, achieving at least 30% by 2023 represents a significant but achievable challenge.
Driving progress will require ongoing investment from CEOs and leadership teams in developing the pipeline of female directors. It will also require demand by investors, leadership from board chairs, commitment by nominations committees and action from head hunters, and of course it also requires ongoing investment from CEOs and leadership teams in developing the pipeline of female directors.
Out of 100 companies, the UK still only has 8 female CEOs, 18 female CFOs and 17 female Chairs. This shows that the 30% Club still has work to do even though they have reached our 30% on Boards target.
We encourage individuals and organisations to support our work and help us in our quest to increase the number of women on company boards and at senior management level.
What you can do to help us:
Become a Chair or CEO Member (please check UK webpage for criteria)
Call upon your own organisation to introduce targets for women in leadership
Share information on the 30% Club with your colleagues and networks
Encourage lagging companies to improve their diversity efforts
The Parker Review target for the FTSE 100 to have at least one board director from an ethnically diverse background by the end of 2021 has largely been achieved.
The latest update from the Review has confirmed 89 FTSE 100 companies achieved the target by the deadline of December 2021. A further five have announced new ethnic director appointments in early 2022 and another three report they are actively engaging in recruitment.
Across the FTSE 100, 16% of board directors are now ethnically diverse, and 49% are women.
The Review states: “These numbers compare starkly and very favourably with the position back in 2016, when only 47% of FTSE 100 companies had people from minority ethnic groups in their boardrooms. The number of companies with minority ethnic directors has doubled.
“We are also encouraged to note that the number of people from minority ethnic groups on FTSE 100 Boards splits evenly between genders, with women comprising 49% of the minority ethnic directors.”
Across the FTSE 250, where the deadline is the end of 2024, 12% of board directors are now from ethnically diverse backgrounds and 44% are women.
At the executive level, there hasn’t been as much progress. The Review states: “As expected, the great majority of these board positions are as non-executive directors.”
There are also only six CEOs and 12 other executive directors across the FTSE 100 who come from a minority ethnic group. And there are only three board chairs from a minority ethnic group background.
At the launch of the Review’s latest update, Secretary of State for BEIS Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Never has there been a more compelling evidence base for the value of building diversity into business, all the way up to the Boardroom.
“Never has it been more clear that British business is seizing the initiative, responsive to the fact that drawing in talent across the diversity of society drives increased value to companies and makes good business sense.
“Business and Government are united in our shared belief in equality of opportunity to deliver a business environment that rewards meritocratic achievement: discovering, developing, and rewarding talent — irrespective of background.
“Out of uniting around the common goal of excellence, I have every faith that British business and the UK economy will build back better out of this pandemic.”
The update comes just two weeks after the 30% Club UK Investor Group issued a statement addressing the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in UK business and outlined the action it is taking to make positive change.
Members of the group who have signed up to the statement have more than £11 trillion assets under management.
In February, the group sent letters to the FTSE 100 companies its independent research suggested had yet to meet the Parker Review targets.
The letter warned the companies that investors may consider voting against companies at their annual general meetings if they fail to take action.
If your company wants to take action to make its senior leadership team more diverse, we have teamed up with Change the Race Ratio and Moving Ahead to deliver the Leaders for Race Equity CEO development programme.
The nine-month cross-company programme for CEOs and minority ethnic group leaders who are in the Exco talent pipeline to share and learn from each other’s experiences and shape strategic action. To find out more, please contact our delivery partners Moving Ahead by emailing race.equity@movingahead.org.
The 30% Club has come a long way from when it was set up in the UK in 2010.We now span six continents and more than 20 countries. We’re actively expanding into more G20 countries
The 30% Club UK Investor Group has issued a statement addressing the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in UK business and outlined the action it is taking to make positive change.
“As institutional investors, we can contribute to addressing these inequities by taking concrete steps to promote diversity and inclusion across our portfolios and within our organisations,” it states.
Members of the group who have signed up to the statement have more than £11 trillion assets under management.
The group has sent letters to the FTSE 100 companies its independent research suggests have still to meet the Parker Review targets of at least one board member and executive committee member from an ethnic minority background. They were meant to have done so by the end of 2021.
The letter warned the companies that investors may consider voting against companies at their annual general meetings if they fail to take action.
The Investor Group is committed to actively engage with UK company board chairs, nomination committees and executive teams on the issue of racial inequality in their leadership ranks and workforce.
The publication of the statement builds on the UK chapter of the 30% Club introducing race and ethnicity targets in July 2020. Those targets include members of the Club across the FTSE 350 having at least one person of colour at board and executive committee level by the end of 2023*. And as the 30% Club campaign is focused on gender, we expect at least half of those appointments to go to women of colour.
While the 30% Club works directly with CEOs and Chairs to encourage change, the Investor Group’s been working on improving the availability of data on race equity within the FTSE 100 by engaging with ESG data providers and supporting the creation of new data platforms, such as through its partnership with Diversio.
The Group is also running a race equity training programme for its members to ensure that all investors, big and small, are equipped to take action with the companies they invest in.
Diandra Soobiah, co-chair of the 30% Club UK Investor Group, said: “Diversity and inclusion in companies are integral to sound corporate governance and corporate culture. As long-term investors, we see the failure to take diversity seriously as a stark warning about the long-term sustainability of the company.
“Time is up for organisations that seek to simply tick boxes. The 30% Club Investor Group is putting FTSE companies on notice – the laggards need to do much better, and we’re willing to help.
“We all have an important role to play to ensure persistent race inequities in business and our society are addressed. As investors, we can have stronger dialogue with the companies we invest in, with a view to improving diversity and inclusion within companies in the UK.”
Ann Cairns, global chair of the 30% Club, said: “The 30% Club’s UK Investor Group issuing this statement is a significant moment for the UK investor community. With ESG rightfully gaining prominence in the board rooms and executive offices of the world’s biggest companies, addressing racial inequity is imperative for all asset managers.
“It could make a major contribution to delivering the change businesses, economies and societies so desperately need to see. I am tremendously grateful for the hard work done by the co-chairs and members of the 30% Club UK Investor Group to take a stand on racial inequality.”
*The 30% Club’s UK chapter set the 2023 deadline for the FTSE 350 as a stretch target for our FTSE 350 members to help meet the Parker Review target by the end of 2024.
The 30% Club has come a long way from when it was set up in the UK in 2010.We now span six continents and more than 20 countries. We’re actively expanding into more G20 countries
The UK has climbed to second in the international rankings for women’s representation at board level.
Almost 40% of UK FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women, compared with 12.5% just ten years ago. And there are almost 38% women on board across the FTSE 350.
The data has been published in a new report by the Government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review, which monitors women’s representation in 24,000 positions on FTSE 350 Boards and in Leadership teams of the UK’s biggest companies, building on the success of the previous Hampton-Alexander and Davies Reviews.
What this new data from the FTSE Women Leaders Review reiterates is that we don’t need mandates - aspirational targets change not just the numbers but also the culture inside companies.
30% Club Global Chair Ann Cairns said:
Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said:
“UK businesses have made enormous progress in recent years to ensure that everyone, whatever their background, can succeed on merit – and today’s findings highlight this with more women at the top table of Britain’s biggest companies than ever before.
“However, we should not rest on our laurels, and the FTSE Women Leaders Review will build on the success so far of our voluntary, business-led approach to increasing women’s representation on boards and in leadership, without the need for mandatory quotas.”
Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, said:
“It is excellent to see the progress being made, but we know there is more to be done. This Government is committed to levelling up all parts of our country, working to tackle inequality and promoting equality of opportunity, including at senior level, so everyone can thrive.”
Here are the four new recommendations of the FTSE Women Leaders Review in full:
The voluntary target for FTSE 350 Boards & for Leadership teams is increased to a minimum of 40% women’s representation by the end of 2025
These recommendations aim to increase gender balance further, bringing new focus to the appointment of women at the highest levels of British business, particularly in those companies that are still lagging behind.
The 30% Club has come a long way from when it was set up in the UK in 2010.We now span six continents and more than 20 countries. We’re actively expanding into more G20 countries
Deloitte, in collaboration with the 30% Club, today released the seventh edition of Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective.
It includes updates from 72 countries on representation of women in the boardroom, exploring insights on the political, social, and legislative trends behind these numbers.
It found that nearly all countries have local organisations or governments committed to increasing the number of women serving on company boards.
While these private and public sector efforts demonstrate steps toward achieving parity, the pace of collective progress needs to pick up.
People often ask why the 30% Club is not the 50% Club given that our aim is parity. I think this report answers that question, we are still far from the 30% tipping point in many geographies
Globally, only one in five board seats are held by women
A smaller group of women are taking on a large number of board seats – referred to as the ‘Stretch Factor’
Report reveals a disconnect between women holding roles on boards and in the executive.
Globally, only 6.7% of board chairs are women, and even fewer CEOs – 5% – are women
A global average of 19.7% of board seats are held by women, an increase of 2.8% since 2018 compared to a 1.9% increase in the period from 2016 to 2018
Companies with women CEOs have significantly more balanced boards than those with male CEOs: 33.5% vs 19.4%
Only three in 10 board seats held by women in UK behind leaders France, Norway and Italy in boardroom diversity
However, UK enters into top 10 global ranking and could reach boardroom gender parity by 2027.
Commenting on the report, which includes commentary from 30% Club chapters, global chair Ann Cairns said: “With the FTSE 100 on the brink of attaining 40% women in board roles, I am encouraged by Deloitte Global’s finding that UK parity could be reached by 2027.
“People often ask why the 30% Club is not the 50% Club given that our aim is parity. I think this report answers that question, we are still far from the 30% tipping point in many geographies.”
She added: “One of the report’s most interesting findings is the real balance that female leaders bring. If women CEOs can have more balanced boards, there’s no reason that male CEOs can’t.
“Finally, on the stretch, this speaks to the fact that women have a harder time being appointed if they don’t have previous board experience. Chairs and CEOs should be encouraged to give women their first board seat.
“There is plenty of talent out there who would make great directors. This is very true for people of colour too, many of whom would welcome the chance to make a significant contribution at the top of the corporate world but remain significantly under-represented.”
Sharon Thorne, Deloitte Global Board Chair and member of the 30% Club, said: “While it’s heartening to see that the world continues to make progress towards achieving gender parity, with the exception of a few countries, overall progress remains slow and uneven.
“The pandemic has further challenged progress in achieving equality, making it even more important to move past discussion and take concrete actions to ensure inclusion within and beyond the boardroom including gender, ethnic and racial diversity among other characteristics.”
She adds: “Increasing the number of women on boards is only the first step on a larger journey.”
The 30% Club has come a long way from when it was set up in the UK in 2010.We now span six continents and more than 20 countries. We’re actively expanding into more G20 countries
Diversity and climate are top priorities for CEOs and boards of directors, but almost none have considered how linking the two management priorities could accelerate their transition to net‑zero emissions.
As the Oliver Wyman Forum and the 30% Club prepared for COP26 in Glasgow, we set out to uncover what can be achieved when diversity, and specifically gender representation, is included in companies’ climate change plans.
The question was more difficult to answer than we had anticipated. For example, starting with large data sets, we looked at how corporate diversity and climate outcomes might be correlated. Relationships were positive but statistically weak. However, with so many factors at play, we felt that focusing solely on these high‑level numbers was a red herring.
As our research and interviews with more than 20 companies progressed, it became clear that not only are women often excluded from many high-level government and corporate discussions on climate, their role as climate-action changemakers is largely unrecognized and underestimated.
Yet businesses need to include female colleagues, customers, and investors if they are serious about meeting net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
We consider this report as just the beginning of research on what can be achieved if a greater mix of people — including women — is more explicitly included in companies’ attempts to reach net-zero emissions.
This report talks about action from corporations deliberately. Clearly, this must be taken together with action from governments, the third sector, civil society, and beyond.
We are grateful for your understanding over this report’s limitations — for example, our focus on women in Western countries and a binary view of gender that is not inclusive of all identities and experiences.
We recognize that we do not cover intersectionality or other dimensions of difference, such as race and ethnicity, primarily due to a lack of data.
Despite this, we felt it important to continue and hope the report will have some impact in driving greater awareness and understanding of the critical linkages between these issues.
We thank and are grateful to the many colleagues who were willing to share their expertise and the companies we interviewed. We hope you find our initial research helpful as you consider your transition plans and look forward to continuing the conversation and research.
Rupal Kantaria
Partner, Oliver Wyman Forum
Ann Cairns
Global Chair, 30% Club and Executive Vice Chair, Mastercard
The 30% Club has come a long way from when it was set up in the UK in 2010.We now span six continents and more than 20 countries. We’re actively expanding into more G20 countries
World Bank Publication Issue 4
Women on Boards in Malaysia
Using firm-level data for 806 public-listed companies in Malaysia, we highlight the extent of women’s participation as board members in Malaysia benchmarked against other countries.
How this women’s participation varies by industry and firm-size is considered, along with its potential impact on the company’s performance.
About 13 percent of the board positions in Malaysia filled by women and the rest by men in 2017.
Moreover, the trend over the last four years reveals a slow pace of increase in the proportion of women board members.
The largest 100 firms and some industries such as finance show a greater tendency to have female vs. male board members. The profit rate is significantly positively correlated with proportionately more female board members in a firm, suggesting a “business case” for more women on the boards.
Read here Development Digest: Maximising Knowledge for Development
New research shows flexible working policies are highly valued by men in Asia nearly as much as women, according to recruiting experts Hays.
The 2017 Asia Gender Diversity Report surveyed men and women from more than 30 industry sectors across China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia to find workplace flexibility is a hot button issue.
“Flexible working is still seen very much as something that benefits working mothers but our latest research shows that companies developing flexible work policies have to take a broader view,” says Simon Lance, Managing Director of Hays Greater China.
“We were surprised to find half of all male respondents in Asia already have access to flexible work options compared to just 40 per cent of our female respondents,” says Simon.”
“Furthermore, the majority of female and male respondents say being able to access agile / flexible work options is important to them with nearly a third of each describing this benefit as ‘very’ important.”
“Also of interest is the fact the largest proportion of respondents of both genders are supportive of seeing more shared family responsibilities used as a way of breaking down gender bias and improving gender diversity.”
Only a minority of participants in the Hays research view working flexibly as “very much” a career-limiting move, although most expected some negative impact. Men were more likely than women to be concerned that working flexibly could have a detrimental impact on their career.
By country, a massive 49 per cent of women and 43 per cent of men in Singapore say working flexibly is very important to them. In Japan, some 39 per cent of both genders describe flexible working as very important to them.
Curiously 40 per cent of male respondents in China rate flexible working as very important – just ahead of female respondents at 38 per cent. At the top of the scale, Hong Kong showed the greatest contrast by gender with 38 per cent of women regarding flexible working as very important while only 18 per cent of men rated it so highly.
However, 45 per cent of male respondents say flexible working is ‘important’ to them. In Malaysia, 40 per cent of female respondents and 39 per cent of male respondents say flexible working is very important.
Across Asia, most female respondents (45 per cent) say promoting shared parental responsibilities would “very much” boost efforts to address unconscious bias in the workplace and improve gender diversity while just over a third of men agree.
The majority of men (42 per cent) and 38 per cent of women believe shared responsibilities would go some way to breaking down unconscious bias and improving gender diversity. A small minority, just two per cent, of women and men say there would be no benefit.
Family responsibilities were also top of mind when participants were asked to nominate the diversity and inclusion initiatives they regard as the most helpful to their career.
The largest proportion of respondents in China (37 per cent), Hong Kong (26 per cent), Japan (29 per cent) and Malaysia (34 per cent) placed flexible working policies for parents at the top of their list.
In Singapore most respondents (31 per cent) regarded training and development of people managers as the most useful initiative. However, another 30 per cent placed flexible working policies for working parents at the top of their list.
APEC Publications ( APEC#216-PP-01.1)
This report presents the outcome of a survey that was undertaken to establish how women directors enhance corporate values in companies within the APEC region.
The mechanism of improving corporate values through the appointment of women directors were demonstrated. Case studies were also conducted through interviews with leading companies in APEC (Canada; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; the Philippines; and Viet Nam) that are considered to have achieved positive impact on growth through gender diversity.
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