Engender blog
All of Engender’s latest news. Reports, reviews, books, articles, and information from across Scotland’s women’s sector.
We would love to hear from other feminists around Scotland. Check out our guidelines for more information on how you can blog for us.
Cracks in the Glass Ceiling or Just a Trick of the Light? New Report on Women on Boards
What is this report about?
As part of the European Women’s Lobby’s Beijing+20 focus month on ‘Women in Decision-Making’, February sees the launch of the EWL’s latest report on women on boards, entitled ‘Women on Boards in Europe: Second Progress Report. Cracks in the glass ceiling or just a trick of the light?’
This Second Progress Report is part of the EWL’s ongoing work to ensure that parity at all levels of decision-making becomes reality. It tracks developments, progress, and stagnation regarding women on company boards in 11 European countries, including the United Kingdom, since the EWL’s first Progress Report on Women on Boards in 2012 – which was awarded the European Public Affairs Award for Report of the Year 2012.
What’s happening in Europe regarding women on boards?
Since the 2012 report, and ongoing campaigning in favour of binding legislation regarding gender parity on company boards across the EU, an EU Directive which aims to attain a 40% gender balance on non-executive boards in large, publicly listed companies across the EU has been proposed and is currently under consideration by the Council. Commissioner for Gender Equality VÄ›ra Jourová has committed to seeing the Directive passed within 2015.
We therefore find ourselves at a key moment to reflect on the developments in this area since 2012 across Europe and to learn from this reflection and analysis in order to best inform current and future policy-making in this area.
What has the United Kingdom done to crack the glass ceiling since 2012?
Positive steps
- The Davies Review in 2011 has led to good progress with many companies voluntarily committing to raising the proportion of women on company boards
- Among FTSE 100[1] companies, women’s representation on boards is at 22.8% (October 2014), up from 12.5% in 2011 and every FTSE 100 company has at least one woman on their board[2]
- Reaching the target of 25% of women on boards by 2015 is seen as essential to ‘prove […] that British business [can] fix this on their own’ and in order to avoid legislative quotas at the EU or national level[3]
Challenges
- While as a group, the FTSE 100 companies are on track to meet the 25% target in 2015, success is concentrated in a few companies and there are still 61 FTSE 100 companies who fall short of this target[4]
- Once again, we see progress is heavily weighted in non-executive directorships – 27.9% of non-executive directorships among FTSE 100 companies are held by women, in comparison to 8.4% of executive directorships[5]
- When we look at smaller companies, the situation is far worse. Among the FTSE 250 group[6], only 17.4% of board members are female and there are 29 companies with no female directors at all[7]
The way forward
The report makes five evidence-based recommendations, which should be taken into account as the future policy landscape regarding women in decision-making at the EU level and the national level is determined:
- Binding measures must apply to both executive and non-executive boards
- Further action is needed to increase proportion of female CEOs
- Effective measures require regular monitoring and intermediary targets
- Measures must be enforced with firm sanctions
- Quotas must be introduced as part of a comprehensive policy package that seeks to address the fundamental causes of women’s underrepresentation in economic decision-making
Gender parity in positions of economic power is of vital importance when it comes to justice, democracy and sustainable growth. Diverse decision-makers and leaders better represent, better understand, and better respond to the desires and needs of women and men in their diversity – and will be more open to cultivating a new style of leadership which will lead to much-needed transformative social change. As an important step forward towards a progressive, sustainable and inclusive Europe, the European Women’s Lobby demands the adoption and implementation of the current proposed EU Directive on women on boards without further delay. Moreover, we strongly encourage national governments to go above and beyond its requirements and to implement stronger measures to achieve gender parity at all levels of decision-making.
You can see the report with full references, and information on other countries, here.
Guest Post: Plan F for feminist: An alternative to the UK government's economic 'Plan A'.
Guest blog: By Angela O'Hagan.
As Frances O’Grady argues in the foreword to the CLASS publication “Election 2015: What’s at stake for work, pay and unions?” the forthcoming election is “a chance to reject a broken economic system”. That encapsulates the arguments from a feminist economics and feminist political analysis of the current economic system and the policy responses of the UK government that are increasingly harmful to women’s wellbeing and their economic and social autonomy.
Statement to the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare
Today we are publishing a joint statement to the new Joint Ministerial Group on Welfare, which was established by the UK Government command paper and draft clauses on further devolution published in January.
Welcome to Engender, Alys!
Alys has joined Engender as our new Communications and Engagement Officer, where she’ll be sending out mailings, running events, and making sure you’re up to speed with everything that’s happening in the wonderful world of gender equality campaigning! Before joining Engender she worked with Jubilee Scotland on the campaign to cancel global debt and at People & Planet helping students campaign against climate change. She studied at Cardiff University, where she was women’s officer at the student union, and is excited to be getting her teeth back into feminist campaigning again! You can contact Alys to chat about anything to do with her role.
We’re also excited to welcome our new officers who will guide our board of trustees and support the staff team; Nina Murray is our new Convener, Emily Thomson is taking on the role of Vice Convener and we’re delighted that Wendy Davies is staying on as our Treasurer and Company Secretary. You can read more about all of Engender’s board members on our website.
Smith Commission agreement a mixed bag for women
The Smith Commission report was launched this morning with some fanfare and warm words for both the 'sagacious' stewardship of Lord Smith of Kelvin and the National Museum of Scotland, which hosted the affair.
The devolution of income tax was the part of the agreement most heavily trailed in the media, but we were particularly keen to see whether the five parties had met ours and others' calls for specific powers to redress inequalities.
We called for the Scottish Parliament to have the powers:
- To legislate and regulate around equality law, including the power to establish a Scotland-specific equalities regulator, akin to the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland.
- To legislate and regulate around employment, including around maternity, paternity and parental leave; flexible working; the national minimum wage; and the employment tribunal service.
- The social security, benefits and taxation system, including the power to legislate and regulate, in addition to administration and deliver.
- To establish employability programmes that link with Scotland’s economic development strategy to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
- To regulate broadcasting and advertising in Scotland.
- The administration of all reserved tribunals operating in Scotland, including the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal should be devolved.
RSSDownloads
Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement Changes
From 15 May 2019, new changes will be introduced which will require couples where one partner has reached state pension age and one has not (‘mixed age couples’) to claim universal credit (UC) instead of Pension Credit.
Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism
Engender welcomes this Scottish Parliament Debate on Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism and the opportunity to raise awareness of the ways in which women in Scotland’s inequality contributes to gender-based violence.
Gender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal Credit
A paper calling on the Scottish Government to automatically split payments of Universal Credit between couples, once this power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016
This manifesto sets out measures that, with political will, can be taken over the next parliamentary term in pursuit of these goals.
Scottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Joint briefing paper for the UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.
Newsletter
Sign up to receive our newsletter here:
Sign up to our mailing list
Receive key feminist updates direct to your inbox:
