Let's work together, urges chief

Andy Hornby, the former chief executive of HBOS, said the gender gap would continue unless it was addressed by everyone.

Speaking at the Women's Business Forum yesterday, he said: "This is an urgent commercial business issue. It's up to all of us to work together to address it and it's up to all of us to accept that if we continue to make real progress then it's going to be a richer and more rewarding place for us all to work."

About 500 people, mostly women, from across the UK, attended the inaugural event at Harewood House, which was organised by Heather Jackson, who is also behind women's networking group the Two Percent Club.

Kate Bostock, executive director of general merchandise for Marks and Spencer, where a quarter of board directors are women, said women were the key to its brand.

She added: "In an era when creativity is important to competitiveness, diversity is essential."

Judith McKenna, chief financial officer of Asda, argued against positive discrimination. "The people who I talk to and I feel it's important that 'I've got my promotion and profile because I was darn good at my job and I was the best person for that job' not because I was female," she said.

Only 12 per cent of directors of the FTSE 100 companies are female. In addition, there are 16 per cent fewer women on the board and executive committees of Yorkshire's top 150 companies compared to other regions in the UK, according to BDO's 2010 Yorkshire report.

Baroness Virginia Bottomley, director of Odgers Berndtson, said: "The challenge now is for women to develop careers that put them in the talent pool where they are likely to be appointed to a board, to encourage them to take forward those opportunities, and to persuade chairmen that if, for example, they encourage women with a HR background, with a communications background or legal background then there will be a huge talent pool out there."