Success in reaching board diversity

Helen Wells -  Head of Communications,  Opportunity Now

We have always said that Opportunity Now organisations are trail blazers when it comes to creating workplaces that work for all.  Our latest investigation proves this point very clearly.  We asked our members to let us know the number of women they had in senior leadership positions and I am pleased to say that Opportunity Now members are significantly outperforming their peers.

According to the latest figures our members have, on average, boards that are 22% women.  This compares very favourably to, say, the FTSE 100 where women make up just 12.2% of boards.  The analysis clearly shows that the public sector is outperforming the private sector in terms of the number of women in top jobs.  The governing councils of Opportunity Now public sector members are made up of nearly 27% women.
The research also showed that there are a significant number of women  holding executive directorships within the boards of our member organisations– on average over 18% across both the public and private sectors. If you look at the equivalent figure  within the FTSE 100 it is just 5.2%.  I think this is a very important statistic because it indicates that women are really progressing from within. Executive Directors are often more visible to those who work within the organisation and we know that role models are significant for inspiring others to feel that women can succeed within specific organisations.

Obviously there is still more to be done and we are far from having parity between men and women.  But these figures are a positive reinforcement that Opportunity Now employers are leading the way in terms of women in leadership positions!