U.K. P.M. Says Not Promoting Women Hurts Economy

Who Countries EUROPE: U.K. P.M. Says Not Promoting Women Hurts Economy

At a meeting of the Northern Future Forum in Stockholm, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the need for more female executives and entrepreneurs to boost the U.K.‘s economy.

“The case is overwhelming that companies are run better if we have men and women alongside each other.” — U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron

Following the recommendations of the Mervyn Davies report on increasing the number of women on boards, released in early 2011, the U.K. has worked to improve the situation.

15% of company directors in the FTSE 100 are women (up from last year’s 12.5%)
Now there are only 10 completely male boards in the FTSE (down from last year’s 21)
As of this coming October, companies must report on their policies and progress in boardroom diversity

However, even with these improvements, the executive level of most U.K. companies are far from being gender balanced. Before the meeting, Cameron issued a statement emphasizing that women make up almost half of Europe’s workforce and hold the majority of university degrees, yet this fact is not reflected in senior boardrooms.

“The evidence is that there is a positive link between women in leadership and business performance, so if we fail to unlock the potential of women in the labor market, we’re not only failing those individuals, we’re failing our whole economy.” – David Cameron

Cameron has previously threatened that quotas may be necessary if the companies can’t solve the problem themselves, but he later stated that the best course would be to take positive measures that stop short of resorting to quotas.

Read the full report from Business Week here