Utilities best performing sector for having women in most senior roles

The utilities sector has been identified as the best performing sector when it comes to having women in the four most senior roles.

A WB Directors report reveals that 80% of listed utilities have at least one woman in the four positions identified as “key roles” – chief executive, chief financial officer, chair and senior independent director.

The report analyses all listed companies on the FTSE All-Share (made up from the FTSE350 and the Small Cap) as well as AIM listed companies.

Scrutiny on meeting the target of having one female employee in the four top positions has only applied to the FTSE350, however WB Directors is calling for it to be extended beyond that remit.

Of the 10 companies listed as utilities, eight have at least one women in the top four roles.

While the WB Directors report does not name the utilities, Utility Week can reveal that Centrica and Yu Group are the two listed utilities without a women in any of the top four positions.

The eight companies that do meet the target are: National Grid, Severn Trent, SSE, United Utilities, Drax, Pennon, Telecom Plus (Utility Warehouse) and Good Energy.

While the utilities sector comes out on top, firms listed as energy companies are the worst performing with just 11 of 65 firms analysed (17%) meeting the target. The majority of these firms are within the oil and gas sector.

The report adds: “The variance in female representation across different sectors is striking. There appear to be no externally driven patterns in this range, reflecting the number of companies listed or ‘traditionally male’ industries.

“We can only therefore suggest that gender equity is a direct result of business-led action in each sector, both by individual firms and collective sector-wide efforts.”

It continues: “ We would therefore suggest that the least diverse sectors put renewed efforts into their sector-wide and internal initiatives in this area, and, where relevant, other regulators consider how to best bring their influence to bear.

“Whilst we are aware of positive initiatives happening in many sectors, including those performing worst here, it does not yet appear to be driving impact at this most senior level.”

Vivienne Artz, CEO at FTSE Women Leaders Review, said: “The current stand-out disappointing statistic is the number of women CEOs in the FTSE 350 today.

“The CEO role was always going to be the last hill to conquer as these are the biggest, highest-paid and most influential roles in British business, and the turnover is low.

“Some of the reasons for this include an ongoing reliance on ‘traditional’ career routes, narrowly drawn briefs, and bias in the selection process.

“There has however been good progress in women’s representation on Executive Committees of the FTSE 100 and in the increasing number of women in the FD and Chief Information Officer (CIO) positions.

“It is also clear that the changing business context which requires broader life and work skills of leadership lends itself to the strong skillset of many women leaders, and this will help fuel further gains in the top four roles going forward.”

Utility Week and Womens Utilities Network (WUN) earlier this year announced the launch of the Women in Utilities Awards, celebrating the achievements of women in utilities and the organisations and individuals that support them. The winners will be announced at a lunch and networking ceremony at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London on 27 June.