Every woman in the boardroom must pull others up behind her
Margaret Thatcher used to say, "If you want anything done, ask a woman", but when it comes to applying this at the most senior level of UK business, momentum is lagging.Cranfield School of Management revealed yesterdaythat in the first half of the 2012 financial year, 44% of board-level appointments at FTSE 100 firms went to women. This slowed to 26% in the second half, and there remains a 33% gap between the current rate of recruitment of women to the boardroom and the recommended level needed to achieve equality. British business continues to fail to tackle the barriers that deter women from fulfilling their potential, with a knock-on impact on our economy and society.
However, the Cranfield research does show that the picture isn't uniformly bad.Women are dominating in the middle levels of certain careers, such as law and marketing, yet this does not translate into boardroom representation. Now is the time for more women in business to recognise their own potential and have the confidence to aim high. We cannot wait for our male colleagues to champion our cause. Nor should we be held back by any guilt that being ambitious and successful at work is somehow not acceptable for women. Too many women don't see themselves in senior leadership and so don't push themselves to advance their careers as their male peer group do.
It's depressing that ambition and feminism have become almost dirty words for working women. But, there is no reason that they should be and, increasingly, I am struck by how the next generation is challenging conceptions of what it means to be successful at work. I regularly meet young women who, just as I did whenI was 23 and took on Birmingham Football Club, are starting their careers with a determination to achieve all they can.
My view is that the key to their success is confidence, and possessing the self-belief to challenge stereotypes. In 20 or 30 years' time, it is these women who will be fundamentally transforming British boards. But this also begs the question of what happens in the meantime. The Cranfield research shows that, while there are too few women in senior business roles, those who are successful could do more to help other women up after them. When I attend events for Women in Business, I often see the same faces. If every woman who got to the top brought just two up behind her, the number of women in the boardroom would triple. When I joined West Ham FC, there were no women in the boardroom and now 50% of the board are female.Rather than pulling up the ladder behind me, I created an environment where women could balance both work and family while aiming for the top.
Any board executive can forget just how many people helped them get where they are. Those women who have got to the top need actively to ensure there is a pipeline of younger women, whether by networking or mentoring, who in turn are encouraging those below them. Women in the boardroom must not forget how many challenges and difficulties we have overcome, and we should share our coping strategies.
It is critical to create opportunities to identify talented women in business, then support them to develop their confidence to aim for the boardroom. We need to look outside the corporate mainstream, at female entrepreneurs and self-employed businesswomen, who can inject different insights and diversity to any board.
We also need to look further down the pipeline at the young women who haven't yet started their careers. When it comes to the route to the boardroom, the barriers start early. Those of us who have achieved success must reach out and inspire young people to aim high, through programmes such asLifeSkills, for which I am an ambassador.
While the peak of female boardroom recruitment has been encouraging, more is needed to bridge the gender gap successfully and sustainably. We need to address the whole journey to the boardroom. Business leaders can and should do more to help instil women in business with the confidence and aspiration to aim for the boardroom and inspire the next generation before they leave school.