Ruth Sealy presentation at Icon Events Gender Talent Pipeline masterclass, Women in Leadership.

1. Women in L eadership
– UK and beyond…
D r Ruth Sealy
International C entre for Women L eaders
C ranfield School of M anagement
London June 21st 2012

2. Female FTSE Index 2009 ­ 2012
Female FTSE 100 Oct Oct Oct Jan May
2008 2009 2010 2012 2012
Female held 131 131 135 163 176
directorships (11.8%) (12.2%) (12.5%) (15.0%) (16.0%)
Female 17 17 18 20 20
executive (4.8%) (5.2%) (5.5%) (6.6%) (6.6%)
directorships
Female NEDs 114 114 117 143 156
(14.9%) (15.2%) (15.6%) (18.3%) (19.6%)
Women holding 113 113 116 141 153
directorships
www.bit.ly/FemaleFTSEReport2012

3. Women on Boards 2012
No. of All Date No of
Male Boards
Boards with
Women
October
25 2008 75
October
25 2009 75
October
21 2010 79
January
11 2012 89
May
9 2012 91
www.bit.ly/FemaleFTSEReport2012

4. Increasing Percentage of
Directorships going to Women
Female FTSE 12 mth to Sept 2011
12 mth to 12 mth to 12 mth to
100 Oct 2010 (6 mth) Jan 2012 Mar 2012 May 2012
New female
appointments 18 21 47 45 44
New male
appointments 117 72 143 123 108
Total new
appointments 135 93 190 168 156
Female % of
new
appointments 13.3% 22.50% 24.7% 26.7% 28.2%
www.bit.ly/FemaleFTSEReport2012

5. Trajectory of Increase 2011 ­ 2020
www.bit.ly/FemaleFTSE2012

6. FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 Comparison
At January 2012 FTSE 100 FTSE 250
Female‐held directorships 163 (15%) 189 (9.4%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 28 (4.6%)
Female non‐executive 143 168
directorships (22.4%) (11.4%)
Companies with female executive
17 (17%) 25 (10.0%)
directors
Companies with at least one
89 (89%) 135 (54%)
female director
Companies with multiple female
50 (50%) 47 (18.8%)
directors
www.bit.ly/FemaleFTSEReport2012

7. Davies Report One Year On
Impact of the Davies Report has been the
multiple stakeholder approach to the
issue of WoB:
 Chairmen and CEOs
 Institutional Investors
 Financial Reporting Council
 Executive Search Firms
 The suboptimal utilisation of talent
involves both genders…this is not a
women’s issue
www.bit.ly/DaviesInterim

8. EU Commission meeting on
Women on Boards
 19 EEA countries
 Although most of the barriers were the same,
different mixtures and emphases
 Some fundamental differences around:
 Corporate Structures
 Corporate ownership
 Governance
 Political intervention

9. EU – No ‘one size fits all’
A quota cluster:
 Norway
 State‐owned, PLC, Co‐operatives, Supervisory board,
40%
 Iceland
 40% by 2013
 Belgium
 33%, state‐owned and PLC, with financial sanctions

10. EU – No ‘one size fits all’
A quota cluster:
 Denmark – Flexi‐quota
 1,100 state‐owned and PLC, self‐determined targets,
board and top management – policy, measure, report
 Germany – Flexi‐quota??? tbc

11. Other ‘soft target’ measures
 Spain – 40% recommendations 2015, no sanctions. Previous
govt, no collaboration/support from biz/govt. 1,000 cos,
IBEX35 risen 5‐11% since 2008.
 Poland – soft targets, no sanctions, sign Charters.
 Ireland – state‐owned and political party targets. Not on
agenda for biz, though growing momentum.
 Austria – 40% quota for state‐owned, but no sanctions. From
July 2012, PLCs annual gender reporting – gender strategy,
policy and report, ‘comply or explain’. Women are in the
system, issues of political will and power. May require strong
intervention for change.

12. A temporary law
 The Netherlands – 30% for supervisory and management
board, voluntary, no sanctions. Have had Charter for a few
years. Works Councils, employee representatives.
4,500 co.s but unrealistic – ED 3.2%, NED 6.0% to 30% by 2016

13. Some societies not ready…
 Pragmatically
 – e.g. Malta,
 Estonia.
 Culturally
 Lithuania,
 Slovak Republic

14. Summary: Quotas, Targets or
Voluntary Measures
1. Voluntary Measures – differences in understanding and
implementation
 Large range of measures aimed at different stakeholders
including women, at different levels
 Differences in implementation – role of government,
direct or ‘indirect’.

15. Summary (cont.)
2. Issues of ‘supply’ and ‘demand’
 Discussions on influencing demand – ROI on education,
talent argument, change attitudes
 Caution regarding ‘supply’ side argument. Several
countries need to question the myth. However, for
some it’s very real and measures implemented to
develop country’s human capital

16. Summary (cont.)
3. No silver bullet – at an EU or country level
 Just supervisory boards is insufficient, but normative
importance of having WoB for longer term role modelling
 Considerable efforts needed on pipeline issues for all
 Governance, societal, cultural, and political considerations
 Social & Political backgrounds and moments of possibility
vary…each country to judge when to boost its position.

17. The myth of the “Golden Skirts”

18. Multiple Directorships
Total
UK FTSE 100 Boards 1 seat 2 seats 3 seats 4 seats
Directors
88.7% 10.1% 1.2% 0
Male Directors 820
(727) (83) (10)
85.8% 12.8% 1.4% 0
Female Directors 141
(121) (18) (2)
In Norway
“Although there has been a growth in the number of women with multiple board
positions, data from Norway shows that the majority of board members sit on only one
board, and that this applies for slightly more women than men. In other words, more
men than women sit on multiple boards.” – Tiegen, 2012

19. The Pipeline myth
“Of course I’d love to put a
women on our board…but
the problem is, we can’t find
one” ‐ Chairman

20. Let’s get some perspective on
the pipeline…
Index % WoB % Female No. of WoB No of Fem.
Snr Mgrs Snr Mgrs
FTSE 100 161
FTSE 250 7.8% 16.6% 154 362
FTSE AIM 5.1% 15.9% 296 706
FTSE Small Cap 7.6% 17.1% 122 258
FTSE Techmark 100 7.4% 15.2% 37 120
FTSE TechAllshare 7.8% 15.6% 49 151
FTSE Fledgling 6.5% 17.8% 48 87
706 1845
Women in pipeline to FTSE 100 board position 2,551
From Female FTSE Report 2010

21. There are currently 1,086 directors on FTSE 100
Of which 163 are held by women
30% of 1,086 is 325
We only need another 162 women

22. Myth: the use of Executive Search Firms
means the appointment process is fair
 Higgs Review 2003
 Chairmen and ESF collusion
(2010)
 Improvements since Davies
Report 2011
 Is this just the FTSE 100?

23. Myth: We have equal opportunities,
it’s a matter of choice
 93% of highly qualified ‘off‐
ramped’ women want to return
to work (HBR, Hewlett & Luce, 2005)
 Can managers work flexibly? Is
it logistics or ‘presumed career‐
death’ from choosing to work
flexibly – significant differences
for men and women

24. Workplace Flexibility
 Launched by Nick Clegg and Vince Cable last month
 Employers Group – chaired by Sir Win Bishcoff
 Approach from the organization’s perspective
 Workplace flexibility pays great dividends
 Anecdotal examples…
 What are the aspects of normative cultures keeping us
stuck in the 20th Century?

25. Considering the Impacts of Policy and
Practice on Global Organizations
Law Firms:
 20+ years of majority female graduates
 Still only 10‐20% female partners
 What’s going wrong?
Investment banks
 Excellent promotion processes
 Still only 10‐20% female MDs
 What’s going wrong?

26. Measure, Research, Report!
 What are the policies and real practices that are
perpetuating the outmoded ways of working?
 What hasn’t worked? What is currently working?
And What will work going forward?