Former Paralympian Champion, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE , Chair of The Commission of the Future of Women’s Sport welcomed the conclusions of the recent Davies Report findings highlighting the benefits women bring to boards and lamenting their continued under-representation in sport, where an independent audit by the Commission confirms that the glass ceiling which dogs women in business is also very much evident in Sports governing bodies.
Baroness Tanni declared “We welcome Lord Davies’ recognition of the real benefit of women at the top and we hope the standards and measures set out in his new code of conduct are now embraced and adopted by all UK sporting bodies. As in business, the number of women holding senior positions in UK sport remains disappointingly low” She added , “I truly believe that there is a place for talented women at the top in our sector. Our aim is to work hand-in-hand with women and sports bodies to understand the barriers these women face, identify the solutions and throw out entrenched ideas about who is best qualified to do the job.”
Trophy Women? was produced by the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport in conjunction with Opportunity Now. The report reveals the extent to which men continue to dominate the running of sport and why the sector can't afford to ignore the issue. Drawing on lessons from the world's most successful companies it makes the business case for having more women in sport's senior management and sets out recommendations on how organisations can achieve this. The Commission’s declared aim is to work hand-in-hand with leaders in sports bodies, to highlight the problems, provide practical solutions and to increase the number of women in leadership positions.
Minister for Sport and the Olympics Hugh Robertson and Rachel Heyhoe-Flint, former England Cricket captain, hockey international and recently appointed Women’s Game Representative on the ECB Board have all leant their support to the findings that reveal despite some headway, the sports sector is still not reflecting gender diversity at senior management levels. This it claims, is hampering the work to increase women’s participation in sport. Robertson said “The report’s findings, while encouraging at certain levels, demonstrate that we still have much further to go in showcasing a modern and progressive world-class sports industry sector. A balanced board is critical for commercial reasons and to demonstrate to the outside world that sport is representative of modern Britain.”
“Trophy Women? NGB Leadership Audit 2010” found that women make up just 20% of NGB boards – which represents a 1% decline since 2009. Astonishingly , ten NGBs , the audit found (nearly a quarter of all NGBs) – have no women on the board at all, including the FA. Only 1 in 5 members of national governing body (NGB) boards is female. “·
An examination in more detail of the Davies reports findings and recommendations underlines the similarities between purely business based companies and sports boards, and the latter of course are increasingly heavily involved in business aspects of sport.
Sports boards will have to duly take note . Firms have been told to more than double the number of women on their boards by 2015, or face government measures. Former minister Lord Davies of Abersoch urged FTSE 350 companies to boost the percentage of women at the board table to 25% by 2015 .He stopped short of imposing quotas, unless voluntary measures fail. Lord Davies called on chairmen (sic ) to announce in the next six months their goals "to ensure that more talented and gifted women" get top jobs. "Currently 18 FTSE 100 companies have no female directors at all and nearly half of all FTSE 250 companies do not have a woman in the boardroom," he said. "Radical change is needed in the mindset of the business community if we are to implement the scale of change that is needed."
CMI chief executive Ruth Spellman said: "The news that companies will not be forced to promote female workers to the boardroom by quota will be widely welcomed by nervous businesses." "However, a concerted effort still needs to be made to use female talent, otherwise companies will be missing out on a vast array of talent at their disposal." Quotas are not inherently good because both men and women need to feel that the women have earned their way to the top”
The main recommendations of the Davies report include:
One area that Lord Davies did not specifically address was the need for more flexibility regarding part-time roles."If you want to affect real change, and fast, then businesses should advertise more top-level roles with the possibility of them being worked part-time," said Karen Mattison, co-founder of recruitment firm Women Like Us."That's the real hammer with which we'll crack this glass ceiling."Lord Davies called on companies to adopt a "comply or explain" approach, which would encourage companies to publish their own targets, and comply with them or explain to shareholders why they have not done so.
*Lead brief notes sourced courtesy Women Sport and Fitness Foundation Press Office*Additional research and photo from John Coxon)
