AIM-listed firms stand accused of a ‘staggering’ lack of progress after a report found that more than a third of them still have no women on their boards.
It means that at the current ‘snail’s pace’ of reform, it will be another 23 years before businesses on the junior AIM stock market reach the target of 40 per cent female representation that other public firms have already achieved, said the report’s co-author Bernadette Young of governance campaign group Indigo.
‘The advantages of having a diverse set of perspectives around the board table are well known – why should the AIM market wait until 2049 to reap these benefits?’ she added.
Lagging behind: More than a third of AIM-listed firms still have no women on their boards
On one measure, gender diversity went backwards as the number of AIM-listed firms with two or more female directors fell from 29 per cent to 27 per cent. Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of AIM boards have no women in key posts such as chief executive.
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