JUST a fifth of board members in the north's top 100 companies are women according to new figures.
Research from Brightwater Recruitment has revealed that Northern Ireland’s business boardrooms still maintain a significant gender imbalance, despite the growing awareness of a widespread female deficit.
Of the 467 board members within Northern Ireland’s top 100 companies, a fifth are women, according to Brightwater, who examined the issue ahead of International Women’s Day on Thursday.
While highlighting there is still a long way to achieving gender parity for senior roles, the research did reveal that the situation is improving, albeit slowly.
In 2015 there was just 15 per cent of female representation on local boards compared to a current figure of 20.1 per cent, signalling slow, but steady progress by business leaders towards correcting the imbalance. However, just five of the top 100 companies in Northern Ireland currently have more women on boards than men.
The research further show that of all placements with salaries of £30,000 or above in 2017, 45 per cent of these were women – an increase of six per cent from 2016.
Managing director of Brightwater Recruitment, Barbara McGrath said the latest figures show the north is heading in the right direction to address the imbalance.
“Ahead of International Women’s Day, we wanted to examine how Northern Ireland measures up in terms of gender and the role women play in the overall business landscape. The good news is, we’re heading in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go."
“Competitiveness, productivity and growth are all potential areas of a business that will get a boost by correcting the longstanding gender imbalance at senior level. And the way to best set up your business for having strong female representation at senior level is to create a strong pipeline of women in middle-management roles coming through and create a culture where women can thrive," she added.
