Women in the boardroom: It's not just about quotas
Many women who have made it onto boards agree that quotas are not the right way to address the issue. Jenifer Moody, EDI education development and innovation director, sits on the board of the Coventry-based education firm.
“The principle is that you want to select people to serve the interest of the company that they represent,” she said. “You can’t do that if you have one eye over your shoulder considering quotas. It is better to have the best people available irrespective of age or gender.”
Carolyn Simons was also uncomfortable with the idea that women could be placed on boards because of a legal obligation, not because of their own merits.
“I feel the same with the Conservative Party’s women-only shortlists, because you feel that as a woman you would get put into the role not on your merits.”
“Maybe if you really want to make a change, you would have to do something of that sort but I just feel inherently unconformable with the idea that you’re being put there not because you’re good but because they need more women.”
She believes there are other ways more women could be brought onto boards. “I think boards should be encouraged to see at least a certain number of female candidates for the interview but not be forced to choose one,” she said.
“We should make sure at least two shortlisted candidates are women but not to force the actual decision.”
The authors of last year’s Female FTSE Report, which found that 11.7 per cent of the directorships on FTSE 100 boards were occupied by women, put forward a series of recommendations which included advising that all private sector directorships be advertised and that long lists for boards have a target of 30 per cent female candidates.
The report’s authors also recommended that search consultants be more proactive in building relationships with potential female non-executives and for companies to set themselves gender targets and report on their progress in meeting them in their annual reports.
Ms Hannah agreed companies need to be more persistent in searching for suitably-qualified women. “There are lots of headhunters who can help - for example, there are women who aren’t at board level and who are stars in their particular specialism,” she said.
Jane Scott is UK director of the Professional Boards Forum, an organisation which stages events bringing chairmen of major firms together with potential women boardroom candidates. She believes part of the reason women are so under-represented is that there is a lack of contact between recruiters and suitable women candidates.
“Women are well qualified, board-ready and have fantastic skills and experience,” she said. “I don’t think it’s to do with a lack of talent and I don’t think it’s to do with a lack of willingness on the part of the boards.
“Women need to make themselves more visible as they tend not to be as active in networking and putting themselves forward as men.
“Chairman tend not to know as many women as they do men and when you are inviting somebody onto your board, you have to do it from a position of trust. In the past, that’s been one of the reasons why the same old faces have appeared on boards.”
She said in the last year or so headhunters had been striving harder to identify women. But she called on firms to reconsider their criteria to allow women without previous boardroom experience to get a foot in the door. “We are firmly of the view that it isn’t necessarily a requirement for the job as the women we see are board-ready.”
