Brown appeals for more women in boardrooms

The Prime Minister met leading female executives at a breakfast meeting in Downing Street yesterday to mark International Women’s Day.

He congratulated those gathered, saying: “I want to congratulate you on the way you have changed the professions you are in.” But he said more needed to be done after a survey of more than 1,000 adults showed that almost two out of three believed there were not enough female directors in big business.

The Government Equalities Office said that at the current rate of progress it will take 60 years for women to gain equal representation on the boards of the top 100 companies.

The Government announced that firms could be required to report on efforts they are making to increase the number of women in senior management jobs. Ministers revealed they had asked the Financial Reporting Council to consider including a new principle in its code of conduct to require firms to report on what they were doing to increase the number of women in senior management positions.

Mr Brown told the round table discussion: “You are making a huge contribution to the changes that are happening in our country. I want to talk about how we can move things even further forward.”

Mr Brown highlighted the fact the majority of graduates in Britain were women, as were the majority of entrants to law, accountancy and medicine.

But the proportion of women in the boardrooms of Britain was too low, he said.

Minister for Women and Equalities Harriet Harman said: “Businesses that run on the basis of an old boy network and do not draw on the talents of all the population will not be the ones that flourish and prosper in the 21st century.”

But Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said last night: “Before Labour start lecturing businesses about equality, Harriet Harman should look a bit closer to home and examine the Government’s woeful record at getting women into senior positions in the civil service.

“It seems under Labour it’s one rule for them and one for everyone else. You have to question the motive of...an announcement this close to an election.”

Comment: Page 10.