Record number of women on FTSE boards

The number of female directorships in the FTSE 100 has topped 100 for the first time, according to new research.

The report, by Cranfield School of Management's Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders, claimed that growing numbers of women are running Britain's top businesses and, for the first time, two companies, AstraZeneca and Marks and Spencer, have four female directors and women comprise a third of their boards.

A further nine companies have 20-30% female representation on their boards, a steady increase since 1999 when the Female FTSE Index was started.

The number of female directorships is up by 20% this year (101 female directorships in 2003, up from 84 in 2002), and 18 (90%) of the top 20 companies by market capitalisation have women directors this year, compared to only 8 (40%) of the bottom 20 companies by market capitalisation.

However, there are still 32 top companies with no women directors at all, and there is still only one female CEO (Marjorie Scardino of Pearson) and one female Chairman (Baroness Hogg of 3i). A third of women directors have titles (Baroness, Dame, Prof, Dr) compared to a fifth of male directors, suggesting that 'branding' was more important for female than male directors, the research said.

Professor Susan Vinnicombe, Director of the Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders, said: "The increase in the number of women directors this year is very positive. What is particularly pleasing is that 22 companies now have multiple women on their boards. These women can now be seen as individuals as opposed to 'the token woman'."

Trade Minister Patricia Hewitt said: "Women have trouble breaking into the boardroom in some companies, and even this year just 1 in 12 of FTSE 100 directors are women. That's not representative of their staff or their customers. Research shows that companies with a good mix at the top have better corporate governance records, and tend to be at the top in terms of market capitalisation."

(gmcg)