The State of Gender Equality In The Workplace Infographic

Our editor Georgina Cammack dips into the Mervyn Davies Gender Equality Report, published in October 2015, to better understand its findings.

The report sets a target for a third of board members of FTSE100 companies to be women by 2020.

We expanded our research to put together our own short report and we take a look at how women are represented in business today.

Key highlights:-

Over the past 40 years there has been a rise in the percentage of women aged 16 to 64 in employment and a fall in the percentage of men.

In April to June 2013 67% of women aged 16 to 64 were in work. If you go back to 1971 the figure was just 53%.  For men the percentage fell to 76% in 2013 from 92% in 1971.

There has clearly been a significant shift and on the whole things are looking positive but as the Mervyn Davies Report highlights there is still a long way to go. Take a closer look with the aid of our infographic below (for a full transcript see below the graphic):

Infographic Transcript:

Over the past forty years there has been a rise in the percentage of women in employment and a percentage of men.

Measured during April and June 2013 67% of women were in work. An increase of 53% since 1971.

92% of men were in employment in 1971 but in 2013 that had fallen to 76%.

By profession there remains a noticeable gap in the skilled trades and plan and machinery operators. In these two sectors men average over twenty percent more pay. Across other sectors the average is approximately 10%.

26.1% of board positions across FTSE 100 companies are held by women.

19.6% of board positions across FTSE 250 companies are held by women.

No FTSE 100 companies have an all male board!

15 of the FTSE 250 companies have an all male board.

Women’s presence on FTSE 100 companies has grown by 108.8% over five years.

The UK compares favourably to other European counties.

Looking at European Stock Index companies Women in the UK represent 22.8% of positions. Below we list the percentage of positions held by women across other EU countries:

Portugal 7.9%

Spain 18.2%

France 29.7%

Ireland 10.3%

Belgium 23.4%

Switzerland 17%

Netherlands 21%

Germany 18.5%

Austria 13%

Denmark 21.9%

Norway 35.5%

Sweden 28.8%

Finland 29.9%

So why is gender equality in the work place important?

Research has shown that companies with at least 30% of their management made up of women are statistically more profitable!

Inequality in the workplace is also illegal! So whilst it is clear that the position has improved considerably it is also clear the bridge has some way to go!