The gender gap in big London businesses is closing. The proportion of women commanding managing director roles has doubled to 12 percent from 6 percent last. However not many women have made it to the very top CEO and board positions.
The report from recruitment firm Astbury Marsden
said females in managerial roles have doubled in the past year.
They are now holding one in eight top positions, and account for
20 percent of the professional level workforce, up from 18
percent in 2012.
On average, women in business work fewer hours than the majority
of men. More men (56%) than women (43%), worked more than 45
hours a week.
Females in the financial services sector increased 2 percent from
last year.
“Women working in the City are now breaking through the
glass-ceiling and reaching senior management positions,” Mark
Cameron, CEO of Astbury Marsden said on the company’s website.
Though women are breaking into the upper echelons of the
financial sector in London, haven’t yet broken into stock holder
and upper executive roles, like HR and client services. The
survey found 60 percent of HR professionals in London are women.
The survey was based on 25,000 employees in London and Canary
Wharf that hold mid and senior-level positions.
Women are still underrepresented in corporate broking and private
equity, industries that generally fast track to CEO and director
positions. Out of current chief execs, 52 percent have a finance
or accounting background, according to a survey by recruitment
firm Robert Half, which publishes the annual FTSE CEO Tracker.
Executive posts- like CEO, CFO, or Finance Director- have a ratio
of 6.1 percent women, which in the past 2 years has only risen
0.6 percent.
After Angela Ahrendts left her role as head of Burberry to head Apple Retail, that left just two female CEOs in the FTSE 100, the UK’s top 100 companies based on market capitalization,
Carolyn McCall heads up easyJet and Imperial Tobacco is run by Alison Cooper.
Women are still underrepresented on board, with only of 23.8 representation, a figure the Lord Davies Women on Boards review hopes to boost 25 percent of FTSE board membership by 2015.
25 percent of female representation on boards is much lower than
the 40 percent by 2020 proposed by Viviane Reding, the European
Union’s Justice Commissioner. Some governments have opposed the
proposal, and a vote will be held in the EU Parliament in May
2014.