Are UK businesswomen more likely to be CEOs, FDs or in another director role?

Thursday, September 01, 2011 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Research, Thought Leadership | Tags: business, statistics, report, survey, UK, data, Board, CEO, FD, CFO, finance director, women, gender, IBR, women in business, diversity, infographic, International Business Report

Find out which senior management positions UK businesswomen are getting with our visualisation of data from the 2011 Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), which reveals the distribution of roles across UK boardrooms.

We’ve represented the IBR data in the Many Eyes bubble diagram above (click to view larger). The figures show how surveyed UK privately held businesses employ women in a range of different director roles.

Job title key
CEO: Chief executive
FD: Finance director
CMO: Chief marketing officer
CIO: Chief information officer
COO: Chief operating officer

Key findings

• Of the companies that employ women in senior managerial positions, the majority employ them in human resource (16%) or finance (13%) director roles.
• This is followed by sales director and partner (both 6%).
• Only 4% of respondents employed women as CEOs or chief executives.
• More than half fell outside the surveyed roles and may potentially include specialist roles such as Head of Tax or Chief Counsel, or company owners of smaller family-owned businesses.

How does the UK compare with global average?
The UK lags behind the global average, a picture that is reflected in our recent posts How the UK ranks for women in the top jobs and Women in the Boardroom 2004-2011 (infographic) Both show countries in the East frequently outperforming developed economies in the West in terms of hiring women into the top jobs.

Of the companies that employ women in senior managerial positions globally, 22% employ them in financial positions, for example, as chief financial officer or finance director. This is followed by human resource director (20%), chief marketing officer and sales director (both 9%).

Globally just 8% of companies with women in senior managerial positions have a female chief executive, although many Asian economies are seeing the rise of the female CEO. Thailand leads the way with 30% of companies employing female CEOs, followed by mainland China (19%), Taiwan (18%) and Vietnam (16%).

For more information and data, visit the International Business Report website.

You might also find these posts useful:

* Women in the Boardroom 2004-2011 (infographic)
* Read our diary of a female CEO
* UK boards need more women directors – but how?