Forum’s aim to give women a greater say in business

The event, which will take place at Rudding Park Hotel in Harrogate on September 29, is themed around the title It’s Time and aims to attract 650 business people from all over the UK, Europe and the US.

The inaugural event, held in September 2010, discussed the issue of women on boards to help change the way major companies addressed the problem.

Women account for just 12.5 per cent of the directors sitting on FTSE 100 company boards, with that figure falling to 7.5 per cent in the FTSE 250.

Earlier this year, Lord Davies published the Women on Boards report, which recommended a number of measures to tackle the current problems.

It suggested targets for women to account for 25 per cent of directors by 2015.

WBF 2011, which is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, will include talks from Chris Sullivan, chief executive of RBS UK Corporate Banking, and Carla Stent, chief operating officer at Virgin Management, among others.

Heather Jackson, founder of WBF, said: “The time for discussion has now passed. Instead, it’s time for a triangulated response where women, organisations and male business leaders work together to change the status quo.

“Quotas enforced by legislation only paper over the cracks and are not the answer for UK Plc. We need a workable, long term, practical solution that plugs the holes in the pipeline and improves the flow of women to the top.”

The event is open to the current and next generation of businesswomen and men in senior executive and management positions. The aim for the conference is to achieve a mix of 80 per cent of women and 20 per cent men.

Ms Jackson added: “This year’s forum aims to show all three parties why women need to aim for the top and how without tackling the supply issue, ie growing the talent pool, we have no chance of satisfying the demand for ‘board-ready’ women. It’s time we started to take real steps to ensure UK can reap the commercial benefits sooner rather than later.”

The Women’s Business Forum now comes under the banner ‘An Inspirational Journey’, a group of initiatives fuelled by the Royal Bank of Scotland that seeks to increase the number of skilled women working at the top of corporate Britain.

The partnership will help companies identify and develop their own female talent pools. Comprising four groups The Pearls, The Two Percent Club, The 150 Programme and The Women’s Business Forum, it is designed to help the current and potential future generation of senior business women realise their potential.

Mr Sullivan said: “This is not a men versus women issue, what we want to see is better balance throughout. I’d like to see our clients and our industry acting now to support more women into senior positions and helping us identify and grow a much larger talent pool of women.”

Focusing on three areas, increasing confidence, recognising capabilities and developing their contacts, An Inspirational Journey aims to give a woman greater choice and control over how and when she progresses her career. It will be delivered through events, mentoring and online support.

For more details about WBF, visit www.thewomensbusinessforum.co.uk