Women directors lag far behind men on AIM 100 boards

Women directors now make up almost a quarter of the membership of the boards of FTSE 100 companies, but the boards of the FTSE AIM 100 Index are lagging much further behind, research  from ionStar has revealed.

The City compliance advisers found there were only 18 women executive directors – or just 6% – of a total of 300 Aim 100 executive directorships.

There was not a single AIM 100 board where women were equally represented with men.

In fact, no AIM 100 board had more than one woman in an executive director position.

However, women directors were in slightly higher numbers as non-executive directors. Women non-executive directors comprised 44 out of the 667 total directorships (under 7% of total directorships), while men took up 323 non-executive directorships (almost half of total directorships).

There were two AIM 100 boards with 12 directors, but both of these had just one female director.

In terms of financial services companies, there are nine AIM 100 companies. On their boards, there are a total of 67 board directors, of whom three have appointed women in executive positions, with three women and 28 men in non-executive positions.

The most common size of AIM 100 board, including non-executive directors, was either six or seven members. The largest boards had 12 members, and the smallest ones four members.

Liz Hughes, Founder and MD of ionStar, said: “While women are making solid progress joining the boards of our largest quoted corporations, it is clear that companies have a lot more catching up to do when it comes to AIM boards.

“It was disappointing to discover how poorly women are represented among the leading 100 companies on AIM, the LSE’s international market for smaller growing companies.

“Surely, if we want to truly succeed with gender diversity then we need to encourage and support all firms, no matter how large or small, to address the gender gap on their boards and within their organisations.”