Lord Davies of Abersoch has ruled out the possibility that government could set boardroom quotas in the future to address the lack of female representation at the top of industry.
According to Lord Davies, who is chairing an investigation into the disparity between the two sexes at board level, companies will be urged to set their own quotas on a voluntary basis.
However, the legislator claimed that businesses would be threatened with enforcement if they fail to tackle the problem of male-dominated boards.
Commenting on the investigation, which will be published in full by Lord Davies next week (February 24th), Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association said: “There needs to be some positive encouragement for women, but quotas don’t necessarily lead to the right answer.”
Recently, Michelle Singleton, assistant policy officer for Unison, claimed that flexible working practices – such as the creation of virtual office environments – could be a good way of dismantling the glass ceiling that women often encounter in the corporate world.
