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The Female FTSE Board Report, produced by Cranfield University, highlighted that 56% of the members of Severn Trent’s board were female, including Liv Garfield, the company’s chief executive, and Christine Hodgson, the company chair.
“This is a lovely recognition for our commitment to diversity at all levels of the company,” said Liv.
“There’s always more we can do, especially in operational roles, and we’re always, always keen to support and develop our female engineers, whether they’ve joined us as apprentices, graduates or come from other companies.
“One of the best things about my job is I can support other women by helping and guiding them where I can. It’s so, so important there are women in senior roles in business so others can follow in their footsteps, and having a women in charge of a FTSE business is just normal and doesn’t get commented on.”
Both Severn Trent and housebuilder Taylor Wimpey both have 56% female representation on their boards, with five female directors and one female executive director. In the FTSE 100, only Severn Trent and insurance company Admiral have a female CEO and female chair.
Next in line in the table were car advertisers Auto Trader and online estate agency Rightmove, with 50% representation.
In the report, Shirley Cooper, chair of the International Women’s Forum, is quoted as saying: “I am pleased to see continued progress for women on FTSE boards in Executive and Non-Executive Director positions.
“Those companies making progress should be applauded. In particular Severn Trent and Taylor Wimpey for achieving 56% women on their boards.”
The Hampton-Alexander Review set a target for all FTSE businesses to have at least 33% female representation on their boards by December 2020. So far, 63 companies have reached that number.