48 / 72
41
The Female FTSE Board Report 2016
4.3 PACE OF CHANGE
Similar to the FTSE 100 from September 2015 to March 2016, both the number of new appointments
and the percentage of those appointments going to women was down with 140 new appointments and
25.7% of those being women. The appointment rate was particularly poor for executive directors. Of 65
new FTSE 250 executive director appointments last year, only six (9.2%) went to women.
4.4 CROSS INDEX COMPARISON AND PACE
OF CHANGE
The government supports Lord Davies’ revised target for all FTSE 350 company boards to have 33%
female directors by 2020. If we look across the whole group, we see that this figure currently stands
at 22.4%.
Going back to 2012, we have tracked and predicted the progress of these numbers with our trajectories.
From all three trajectories we can see that we will hit the 33% targets only if, going forward, one in three
(33%) new appointments goes to a woman. We know from previous years that this is possible, but that it
requires a concerted commitment by all involved. The current rate of female appointments is insufficient
to meet this target.
The trajectories assume that the total number of directorships remains the same and that the numbers
of directors leaving the board each year reflect the gender balance of six years earlier, as the average
tenure is six years. They have been calculated using an annual turnover rate of 14.5% and reveal possible
proportions of women on boards with an appointment rate of one in three (33%) and one in four (25%).
TABLE 15: FTSE 350 COMPARISONS
At March 2016
FTSE 100
FTSE 250
FTSE 350
Female held directorships
279 (26.0%)
406 (20.4%)
685 (22.4%)
Female executive directorships
26 (9.7%)
29 (5.6%)
55 (7.0%)
Female non-executive directorships 253 (31.4%)
377 (25.7%)
630 (27.8%)
Female CEOs
6 (6%)
12 (4.8%)
18 (5.1%)
Female Chairs
4 (4%)
11 (4.4%)
15 (4.3%)
TABLE 14: FTSE 250 NEW APPOINTMENTS ACROSS 6 MONTHS
Mar-16 Sep-15 Mar-15 Sep-14 Mar-14 Sep-13 Mar-13 Sep-12 Mar-12 Sep-11
New female
appointments
36
43
30
44
33
36
46
43
33
21
New male
appointments
104 112 99
137 66
87
112 75
92
102
Total new
appointments
140 155 129 181 99
123 158 118 125 123
Female
% of new
appointments
25.7% 27.7% 23.3% 24.3% 33.3% 29.3% 29.1% 36.4% 26.4% 17.1%
FTSE 250 Companies