An all-male board has returned to the FTSE 350, the 30% Club has said.
The group found women now make up 39.7% of boards in the FTSE 100, up from 36.2% in 2020, but said it was “disappointed” about the re-emergence of an all-male board in the FTSE 100, ending a 13-month period (February 2021 – March 2022) in which there were none.
Ann Cairns, global chair of the 30% Club and executive vice-chair of Mastercard, said: “The re-emergence of all-male boards across Britain’s 350 biggest companies reminds us of the fragility of progress for women’s representation at the highest levels of business. It also demonstrates that ‘one and done’ boards simply don’t deliver change long term.
“The rise to the top needs to be more inclusive. Positive action is needed throughout the corporate pipeline. We live in a volatile world, now more than ever we need balance and a variety of perspectives at the decision making tables.”
See also: – Number of women on FTSE boards jumps but ‘more to be done’ at executive level
Meanwhile, index provider MSCI has predicted it could take another 20 years until there is 50% representation of women on boards. In 2021, 14.2% of the constituents of the MSCI ACWI Index had all-male boards, down from 17.0% in 2020, and from 18.6% in 2019.
