How the monochrome culture reigns in boardrooms
The findings in a UK report on male domination also apply to black and female executives in SA, writes Roger Southall
A recent report for the British government has revealed that the number of all-male FTSE 350 company boards fell from 152 in 2011 to 10 in 2017, but nonetheless British boardrooms remain overwhelmingly a playground for males. Despite the government’s call for one-third of FTSE company leaderships to be filled by women by 2020, British company chairmen and CEOs were reported as giving a host of reasons for the slow progress. These included the suggestion that women don’t fit comfortably into the board environment; that there weren’t enough women with the right credentials and experience to sit on a board; and anyway the issues covered by boards are "extremely complex". Other excuses were that shareholders aren’t worried about the make-up of boards; some board members don’t want women colleagues; all the "good women" have been snapped up; and some boards had already appointed a woman and that was deemed enough.
And some said board chairmen were eager to appoint a woman, but unfo...
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