Over two thirds of senior executive roles in the FTSE 100 go to men

• 13 companies in the FTSE 100 have just one or no women C-suite executives

• Just 11% of CEOs and 21% of P&L leaders in the FTSE 100 are women

• FTSE 100 ahead of S&P 100 for gender diversity in the majority of senior roles

11 November, London – New analysis from Russell Reynolds Associates shows that only 12 organisations in the FTSE 100 have achieved gender parity* in their senior leadership teams. A quarter (25) of FTSE 100 companies are led by C-suites with fewer than 25% women, and 13 have one or no women.

The analysis looks at C-suite leadership roles** including CFO, COO and senior leaders with P&L responsibility, running business units, regions or lines of business. These teams shape the behaviour and strategy of the UK’s most influential businesses and serve as the talent pipeline for next generation of CEOs.

The analysis shows that just 32% of the senior executives in the FTSE 100 are women. When compared to the UK population, the data shows that women are underrepresented by 61%.

Gender diversity at the executive level is significantly behind progress within boards. Women hold 42% of board seats in the FTSE 100 following voluntary initiatives to improve representation.

Laura Sanderson, Co-Head of Europe, Middle East & India at Russell Reynolds Associates, said:

“Establishing a cohort of skilled women leaders needs to be treated as a business imperative as it supports all aspects of a firm’s performance. The evidence is mounting up that companies with gender balanced senior leadership teams are more innovative, more profitable, more socially responsible, and provide higher-quality customer experiences. Boards must take active steps to manage their talent pipelines.  At its core, achieving gender balance in business leadership is an indicator of organisations’ succession and talent planning success.

Unequal representation at the top

The findings shed further light on the glass ceiling for women executives at CEO level. Men are eight times more likely to be CEO in the FTSE 100 than women, with just 11 FTSE businesses currently led by women.

Women are especially underrepresented among the roles that matter most for CEO succession pipelines, including the COO, CFO and P&L leadership. Women hold 21% of P&L leadership roles, represent 28% of COOs and a quarter of CFOs. Predictably, these positions are also the key incubators roles for future CEOs.

Women are better represented in roles without P&L responsibility such as CHRO, CMO and General Counsel, however. Most notably, FTSE 100 CHROs are overwhelmingly women, at 79%.

Laura Sanderson concluded:

“The data is clear. If we want to see more women CEOs, we must improve the pipeline of talent, especially in the key P&L leadership roles. That’s why we launched Artemis, a programme designed to accelerate the development of women from the world’s most influential organizations in order to propel them into the top seat.

“Collectively we must do better to unlock talent, build support networks and reimagine the received wisdom of what a CEO must look like.”

UK leads US in most senior roles

Women in the FTSE 100 experience better overall representation than their counterparts in the S&P 100, however. Stateside, women make up 9% of CEOs, 20% of CFOs and a mere 8% of COOs, though 24% of S&P 100 P&L leaders are women. Women also hold 36% of FTSE 100 strategy leadership roles, compared with 22% for the S&P 100.

_{*Gender parity is defined as the equal representation between women and men in a given population.
**The following executive roles were examined in this research: CEO (including co-CEOs when applicable); CFO, CHRO, CMO, COO, GC, COO, CIO/CTO; Strategy leadership (includes Corporate Development, R&D and Innovation roles);  Commercial leadership (includes merchandising and customer roles); P&L leadership; and roles including product, engineering, supply chain and other functional leadership positions.}

Media Contacts

Russell Reynolds Associates
Sarah Carlyle, Marketing Director EMEA
Email: sarah.carlyle@russellreynolds.com