26 February 2025 Simon Kerr-Davis  -  Laurie Ollivent The Diversity Faculty Blog

FTSE Women Leaders Review – 2024 report

On 25 February, the FTSE Women Leaders Review published its 2024 Report on the representation of women on the boards and leadership teams of the FTSE 350 and 50 of the UK’s largest private companies. We are now in the final year of the Review’s cycle and whilst progress has been made in some areas, the 2024 Report tells us there is much more to be done to meet some of the recommendations and targets by the end of this year. 

The Review’s recommendations and targets

The FTSE Women Leaders Review was launched in 2021 as a successor to the Hampton-Alexander Review to drive further progress in delivering gender balance across the top of British business. As a reminder, the Review sets voluntary targets and recommendations for the FTSE 350 and the UK’s 50 largest private companies, across their boards and senior leadership roles (defined as those who sit on executive committees, and senior managers immediately below that level). In particular: 

  1. The 40% target: To achieve a minimum of 40% women’s representation in these roles by the end of 2025. 
  2. A focus on the “four key roles”: Companies should have at least one woman in the role of Chair or Senior Independent Director and/or one woman in the Chief Executive Officer or Finance Director role by the end of 2025. 
Key findings

The 2024 Report is rich in data and provides a breadth of informative statistics reported across varying angles, from the FTSE 350 compared to the 50 largest private companies, to sectoral levels and contrasting the results of boards and senior leadership levels. You can read the report here. In summary: 

  • Whilst progress has been made in increasing the number of women on boards, the FTSE 350 are set to miss the target of having 40% of women in leadership roles by 2025. 
  • With a significant lack of female representation in executive roles, there is more to be done to bring women into the “four key roles” across the FTSE 350 and 50 largest private companies.
  • For the FTSE 350:
  • Women on boards:

43.4% of the FTSE 350 board directors are now women.

73% of the FTSE 350 meet the target of having a minimum of 40% women on boards. 

  • Women in leadership roles:

35.3% of the FTSE 350 have women in leadership roles. 

  • For the 50 largest private companies:
  • Women on boards: 

30.5% of the 50 largest private companies have female board directors. This metric has seen only a small change over the last three years and is a drop from 32% in 2022. There has also been an increase in all-male boards from five to seven in 2024, and it is unlikely that the group will meet the 40% target by the end of 2025.

Only 34% of the 50 largest private companies meet the target of having 40% women on boards.  

  • Women in leadership:

36.8% of the 50 largest private companies have women in leadership positions.

  • Across the “four key roles” (Chair, SID, CEO or Finance Director): 
  • Across all data groups, 76% of the FTSE 350 and 60% of the 50 largest private companies now have at least one woman in one of four key roles in line with the recommendation. 
  • For the FTSE 350, the overall trend for female representation across the four key roles is positive. The number of female Chairs has increased to 17%, female Finance Directors are at 22%, and female SIDs have seen the most growth at 56%. 
  • Across the FTSE 350, the number of female CEOs has fallen and there are only 19 female CEOs across the FTSE 350. For the 50 largest private companies, the number of female CEOs has also fallen to eight.
  • For the 50 largest private companies, in the same positive trend as the FTSE 350, the number of female SIDs has increased to 66%, with Chairs at 15% and Finance Directors at 24%. 
  • According to the Review, the focus now needs to be on growing the number of women in CEO positions and developing the CEO succession pipeline. 
  • Sectoral progress: 
  • For boards: financial services are leading the way for gender balance, followed by partnerships, then media and insurance.
  • For leadership roles: media are leading the way for gender balance, with utilities and partnerships again making the top four rankings for sectoral progress. 
Overall findings 

The 2024 Report is both a benchmark and a rallying cry for businesses to do more. Since the start of the Review in 2011, there has been significant progress in the gender balance of British boards from 9.5% of the FTSE 350 boards being women, to 43% today. However, the Review calls for boards to action key areas to continue progress, with just one year of the Review’s cycle remaining. In particular, it encourages boards to: (i) challenge and drive momentum to reach the 40% target for women in leadership roles; (ii) ensure a gender diverse pipeline for CEO succession is deepened and supported by the board and other senior leaders; and (iii) continue to drive growth in achieving gender balance across the four key roles. 

In the launch of the 2024 Report, the focus was very much on inclusivity and fair representation across the FTSE 350 and the 50 largest private companies – perhaps intentionally given the current challenging global environment for diversity and ‘DEI’, but also importantly, given the emphasis on companies recognising the integral role that these elements play in operating a successful and sustainable business.  

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, attended the Report’s launch and made clear that the UK Government remains steadfast in supporting women in business, reminding us that the Government is committed to supporting the recommendations of the Review and that “diverse leadership teams deliver better results”.