The majority of FTSE 100 companies have ignored recommendations made by Lord Davies to voluntarily increase female board representation to 25 per cent by 2015.

Mark Spinner, partner at international law firm Eversheds, comments: “The widely reported claim that the majority of FTSE 100 companies have “given two fingers” to the Government’s voluntary target to get more women on boardS”, by failing to disclose their aspirational targets for gender diversity is not helpful at all to the question of gender diversity.

“In his Report Lord Davies recommended that Chairmen of FTSE 350 companies should publish, within six months (by September 2011), the percentage of women they aim to have on their boards in 2013 and 2015. FTSE 100 companies were encouraged to aim for a minimum of 25 percent female representation by 2015, with the expectation that many would achieve a higher figure. Since his Report was published on 24th February 2011 it is, of course, possible to construe the timetable strictly, and assert that those FTSE companies that have failed to publish their targets have also failed to comply with Lord Davies’ recommendations.

Equally however, and as has been pointed out by a number of companies who have been approached in relation to this issue, it is equally possible to interpret the recommendation as being to publish by the end of September. “The fact remains that the UK Government, along with most of Europe, is committed to ensuring that UK boards have appropriate governance structures in place with gender diversity being one of the benchmarks used when assessing whether a particular board is ‘fit for purpose’. I am afraid that if FTSE companies do not react voluntarily to the Government’s desire to ensure that there is appropriate gender diversity on their boards we can expect both European and national legislators to force quotas on us.”