UK scale-ups are failing to adequately prioritise board-level gender diversity, according to a new study from global growth consultancy, Think & Grow.
The research shows that while 94% of UK board members believe that it is essential to have a diverse mix of people on a company board, women hold just 18% of board roles across the UK’s fastest growing technology scale-ups. Additionally, more than a third (36%) of these companies have no board-level female representation at all.
The findings highlight a disconnect between how companies within the UK’s fast-growing tech ecosystem think about diversity and how they put this into practice. These findings are taken from Think & Grow’s latest report, Breaking and Remaking the Next Generation of High-impact Boards.
Board-level gender diversity at UK scale-ups and start-ups is significantly lower than at listed technology firms – women make up 41% of all board directors across FTSE 350 tech companies, more than double the level seen inside early-stage businesses. Larger listed organisations must adhere to FCA diversity and inclusion rules that require a minimum of 40% female representation on boards. This points to an ecosystem where government or agency initiatives or recommendations play an important role in supporting diversity and highlights the need for scale-ups to be more proactive in boosting diversity.
Women also hold few senior leadership positions on the boards of the UK’s fastest-growing technology scale-ups; just 12% of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies have a female CEO, Founder or Co-founder and the same proportion have a female chair.
