Taking a Seat on the Board: Women Directors in Britain

Abstract

During the eight year period between 1989 to 1997 Ashridge surveyed the situation for women directors among the UK Times Top 200 companies. The 1997 data indicates that whilst more women than ever before are taking a seat on the board, they remain a distinct minority. Trends show a growth in the number of women appointed, the number of companies with a woman director and in the small group of companies with more than one woman director. However, women’s overall share of director appointments is tiny, at less than 5 per cent. Similarly, women are more likely to gain the less important, non-executive, rather than executive directors’ role. The pace of change has been very slow and it cannot be said that women directors in the UK are on a par with their male colleagues.

The article discusses the survey data, together with the barriers that block women directors, and changes that might affect a faster rate of change.