Source: Equality and Human Rights Commission
Extract from Press Release
A new report published by the Commission, shows a continuing trend of women being passed over for top jobs in Britain. More than 5,400 women are missing from Britain’s 26,000 most powerful posts. The report, Sex & Power 2011, measures the number of women in positions of power and influence across 27 occupational categories in the public and private sectors.
Worryingly, the results of this year’s report differ very little from those in the previous report of 2008. Figures from this year’s report reveal that, while women are graduating from university in increasing numbers and achieve better degree results than men, and despite level pegging with men in their twenties, they are not entering management ranks at the same rate, and many remain trapped in the layer below senior management. Among this year’s findings were:
In business women represent:
- 12.5% of directors of FTSE 100 companies (up from 11% in 2008)
- 7.8% of directors in FTSE 250 companies (up from 7.2% in 2008)
In media and culture, women represent:
- 9.5% of national newspaper editors (down from 13.6% in 2008)
- 6.7% of chief executives of media companies in the FTSE 350 and the director general of the BBC (down from 10.5% in 2008)
- 26.1% of directors of major museums and art galleries (up from 17.4% in 2008)
Studies have shown that outdated working patterns where long hours are the norm, inflexible organizations and the unequal division of domestic responsibilities are major barriers to women’s participation in positions of authority.
The British economy is paying the price for this exclusion. It has been suggested that greater diversity on corporate boards would improve business performance and increase levels of corporate social responsibility
Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Leo Reynolds
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