It seems that Beyoncé might have been wrong when she said ‘who runs the world? Girls!’ Only 4% of executive board positions in power & utility companies are held by women according to a report outlined in HR Today. Gender diversity is generally poor across non-exec director, board member and senior management team positions in the power and utilities sector.
Whilst the P&U companies are highlighted in this report, it appears that this gender imbalance is common in all sectors with many companies failing to meet the target of having at least 25% of all board posts be held by women by 2015. Note that this is a target set in the UK not currently a mandatory requirement.
This is a debate that rumbles on as to why this might be the case. Are the currently predominantly male boards discriminating against women? Is the glass ceiling still preventing career progress meaning women don’t get to the position where they can compete for a place on the board? Is it that women just can’t cut it (not our sentiments I assure you!) or that they don’t want that level of responsibility?
What’s your view?
We can’t help but wonder why 25% and not 50% as the target?!
http://www.hrzone.com/feature/