According to a survey by Spencer Stuart - an executive head-hunter company - women have passed men to now hold most non-executive director positions.However, the report also showed that almost 90 per cent of executive directors in the top 150 FTSE companies are male. This highlights the fact that men still dominate the management roles. A review of governance practice - excluding investment trusts - found that women now represent 51 per cent of all non-executive directors which is up from 18 per cent a decade ago.As stated by Spencer Stuart - for the first time since tracking began, 442 women occupied non-executive positions whilst those occupied by men numbered 422. It was also found that women occupied 36 per cent of all board roles - up from 34 per cent in 2020. But the analysis also found that 86 per cent of executive directors were male. Men held all four senior board positions in sixty-four of the top 150 companies, with no increase of women holding executive director positions over the last year. Tessa Bamford - leader of Spencer Stuart’s board and chief executive practice - stated:“…progress is limited to non-executive directors - the number of female executives in the boardroom and on executive committees remains very low.” She then called upon companies to continue focussing their efforts on developing female talent within the executive ranks.Shriti Vadera - chair of insurer Prudential - said that “diversity of thought and experience is paramount for the successful functioning of a board.” She added that the report not only highlighted the progress made but also showed “…where we need to go further and faster to achieve meaningful change.” According to the analysis, 61 per cent of FTSE 150 firms had at least one minority ethnic director sitting on their board, but 39 per cent had no minority ethnic representation. The proportion of first-time board directors from minority ethnic backgrounds rose from 17 per cent to 25 per cent during the last year.

The research identified that most directors with ethnic minority backgrounds do not hold leadership positions on the board - only one board chair amongst those surveyed was minority ethnic.Sandra Kerr CBE - race equality director at Business in the Community - stated:“Since mentorship and sponsorship opportunities have declined since 2018, we need more leaders to step up and support employees of ethnic minority backgrounds.” Dr Scarlett Brown - corporate governance lead at the CIPD - commented that more companies need to collect data on the diversity of their workforce, including disability, gender, sexual orientation, social background and cognitive diversity. She stated:“The real challenge is increasing the number of women in leadership roles, where progress is still low.”  But she added:“Diversity at board level - which is vital for effective decision making - also needs to encompass more than just gender or ethnicity.”