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Female executives failing to get foothold in top firms, survey shows
The UK’s largest companies are failing to promote female executives to senior management roles, potentially creating a shortage of women qualified to fill future boardroom roles and undermining initiatives to appoint more female directors.
Analysis by the Guardian of 50 of the UK’s most valuable companies shows that women account for only 14% of staff serving on executive committees – the management level just one rung below the boardroom and which are viewed as the pipeline of talent to fill future board vacancies.
The figures imply that women occupying jobs at executive committee level are even more scarce than on FTSE 100 boards, with the latest numbers from the Professional Boards Forum showing just 17.3% of blue chip directors are women. (via The Guardian)
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A minority report from the British armed services
What is it like to be one of the approximately 12,000 recruits from ethnic minorities currently serving in the British military? That was the question photographer Kit Oates wanted to address when, earlier this year, he embarked on a project to take portraits of members of the British army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force from minority backgrounds. “I was interested in recruits who might not have been born here, or whose parents weren’t, but who have decided to serve in the armed forces in this country. I thought it was an interesting area in a year when so much has been happening in Great Britain; I wanted to highlight another facet of our multicultural society.”
The Ministry of Defence was initially slow to provide access, but Oates believes his request was strengthened by recent reports that ethnic minorities are poorly represented in the British military – making up about 7% of the armed forces, with particularly low numbers in the navy and the RAF. “The British army needs to reflect British society,” defence secretary, Philip Hammond, said in June. “This is clearly a challenge now; to recruit from the ethnic minorities within British society in proportions that reflect that society.” (via The Observer)
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Men sue Swedish police for sexual discrimination
The National Police Board (Rikspolistyrelsen) has been sued by a rights group for alleged discrimination, arguing that women have been favoured ahead of men in the recruitment process.
The Centre for Justice (Centrum för rättvisa) has filed three writs against the board, alleging that male recruits have been denied places at the Swedish National Police Academy in favour of female recruits, despite the man having performed better in physical and language tests.
“If there has been violation of the law on admissions to the Police Academy, it is obviously very serious. Through this judicial process the questions will hopefully be answered,” said Clarence Crafoord, director of the Centre for Justice, in statement.
Crafoord argued that the issue is of extra importance “because the Equality Ombudsman has chosen to act extremely passively in the matter”. (via The Local)
