Gender is one of the shielded components in the Equality Act 2010, and the UK proves to us that it is by its improvement of encouraging gender diversity within the workplace. In February 2016, the UK government appointed Sir Philip Hampton and the late Dame Helen Alexander to oversee an independent review to recognize, support, and reward talented businesswomen. As a result, The Hampton-Alexander Review 2016-2020 shows us that the percentage of women on the board of FTSE companies has increased slightly over the years.
The Hampton-Alexander Review has received support from various UK government departments, such as the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and Government Equalities Office for this project. Now, the UK government is taking extra steps to support women by urging FTSE-listed companies to promote more women to executive ranking positions like board members.
Consequently, this initiative has proven to be effective- as shown in the reports produced by the Hampton-Alexander Review. According to the FTSE Women Leaders, "The Women on Boards targets were achieved in the aggregate for the FTSE 350 at the end of 2020.". Not just that, reports submitted by companies for the Hampton-Alexander Review suggest an increase of almost 9% of women board members on FTSE 100 listed companies and over 10% for FTSE 250 listed companies in 2020.
Although women at the top of businesses are receiving recognition and support, it is crucial to consider the minority of women who are not receiving the same treatment. Women around the UK are still facing gender inequality issues in all sorts of workplaces. Therefore the UK government should take equal measures for these underrepresented women to remove gender inequality as a whole.
*The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Group is a financial organization managing asset exchanges. The FTSE 100, FTSE 250, and FTSE350 are three share indexes of the 100, 250, or 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalisation.
References
FTSE Women Leaders. (2021). 2016 – 2020 The Hampton-Alexander Review - FTSE Women Leaders. [online] Available at: <https://ftsewomenleaders.com/2016-2020-the-hampton-alexander-review/> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
GOV.UK. (2021). FTSE women leaders: Hampton-Alexander review. [online] Available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ftse-women-leaders-hampton-alexander-review> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
Sharma, K., (2021). UK companies will be told to bring more women into boardrooms - swiftheadline. [online] swiftheadline. Available at: <https://swiftheadline.com/uk-companies-will-be-told-to-bring-more-women-into-boardrooms/> [Accessed 1 November 2021].
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