Business group warns of lack of women at top executive levels

Irish businesses are making progress in achieving more balanced boards, new figures show, but there is still work to do on encouraging female representation in decision-making roles.

The new figures from Balance for Better Business (B4BB) showed the number of women in senior board roles actually fell between September 2022 and March 2023. B4BB is an independent business-led review group established by the Government to improve gender balance in senior leadership in Ireland.

Ireland is now among the top 10 in the EU27 for female board representation, with an average of 32 per cent female representation.

Women account for about 35 per cent of board members of the 20 biggest firms on the Iseq Index. That is ahead of the target of 33 per cent by the enf of this year but down on the 36 per cent recorded in the last report of the group, published in November. Other listed companies currently have 23 per cent representation, just shy of a 25 per cent target it is set to meet by the end of the year and ahead of the 22 per cent target that was set for the end of 2022.

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However, the results at senior leadership level within Iseq20 companies shows only 25 per cent female representation, compared to the 30 per cent target that was set for the end of the year. Other listed companies are at 21 per cent, and may struggle to meet the 25 per cent goal by the end of the year.

“The figures released by Balance for Better Business today show that progress continues to be made in terms of the number of women at Board level. This is a welcome development and speaks to the positive impact of a voluntary, business-led approach in achieving progress,” said Balance for Better Business co-chair Julie Sinnamon.

“However, it’s also clear that the ISEQ 20 and other listed companies need to do more to ensure that progress does not plateau at the number of women on Boards. That’s why we’re encouraging businesses to see gender balance as part of a wider cultural change within an organisation.”

Women are also largely underrepresented in key board and leadership decision making positions, with no female chairs in the Iseq 20 and representation among other listed companies falling from 8.1 per cent in September 2022 to the current 2.8 per cent. Women make up half of all senior independent directors on boards.

Only three out of 36 chief executives of listed Irish companies are women, declining to 8.3 per cent from the previous level of 11.1 per cent.

“While progress to date at the board level of Irish business is to be welcomed, there is still much more work to do to ensure that women can advance into senior leadership roles which are still predominantly held by men,” said Balance for Better Business co-chair Aongus Hegarty

“We are calling on Irish businesses to address this slower pace of progress in a number of ways. These include increasing the use of objective measures of performance evaluation, providing opportunities for women to network and encouraging organisations to develop a pipeline of strategic leaders rather than concentrating on operational leadership. Through these specific actions, leaders can better ensure that women are not prevented from progressing into top roles on boards and senior leadership teams while also reaping the many benefits of diverse and inclusive leadership.”