Women in the Boardroom see the Onus is on Them, not Legislation, to Make the Difference - Harvey Nash / Inspire Report

LONDON, June 28, 2011 -

Despite 81% of women feeling that bias in the appointment
process has a major impact on female representation, almost
two-thirds (64%) of women do not support legal quotas. This is
according to research conducted by href="www.harveynash.com/inspire/">Inspire, the female
executive board network that is supported by href="www.harveynash.com/">Harvey Nash, a global
professional recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service
provider.

Instead, women respondents cited education and awareness as the
single biggest opportunity for improving boardroom balance (44%),
followed by published targets and regular reporting (40%). It
appears from the survey, conducted of 365 male and female board
level and senior executives that the majority of women in business
want to be taken seriously for their expertise and not simply for
being on the board.

Whilst still a minority of women (36%) believed quotas should be
put in place, this is a growing and vocal segment of leading women
in business and politics. For example, the UK Labour party is
considering new rules making it mandatory that at least one of the
two most senior leadership positions are held by a woman. In an
interview given in London recently, one of its most influential
female politicians said women were still a long way from being
equal in the party.

But regardless of whether factors such as legislation and
education are the solution, 84% of women believe they personally
need to do more to achieve a higher representation on the
board.

Women on the board - men think
it‘s all marketing?

A significant minority (41%) of senior male executives and board
members believe the push to achieve a higher female board
representation is more about corporate marketing than it is about
board room effectiveness.

Whilst the vast majority of executives support the principal of
a greater balance of representation at board level, there are
significant differences between males and females about why it is
required and the causes of the current imbalance:

• Almost half (49%) of male board directors believe that having
  women on the board will make no difference to the board
  effectiveness.  Women are much more bullish: 89% believe their
  increased presence will improve effectiveness.
• The majority of men (51%) think there is ‘no problem’ with the
  current make up of their board, compared to 33% of women.
• Almost two-thirds of men (63%) believe low female board
  representation is ultimately a ’supply’ issue, attributable to the
  lack of suitably qualified women. Women believe the opposite, with
  81% citing ‘demand’ as the ultimate factor, caused by a bias in the
  appointment process.

Carol Rosati, director of Harvey Nash and joint founder of
Inspire - Harvey Nash’s board level network for women - comments:
“The results show a major difference in how men and women view
females on the board: women think there’s a problem, men don’t.
What is most striking about the survey is how women are looking to
themselves to make a difference, rather than using the prop of
legislation or targets. It’s a positive message, but there’s
still a long way to go. For instance, women tend to apply for jobs
only when they meet the vast majority of the requirements, whilst
their male counterparts are often happy to throw their hat in the
ring when possessing less than half of the skill set required.
Without a step change in women’s attitude the case for quotas will
no doubt remain.”

Notes to editors

About this survey: The survey was conducted online during
May / June 2011 and was sent to the subscriber base of Harvey
Nash’s executive magazine OAM.  365 people responded, of which
33% were main board members, 43% senior executives reporting to the
board and the remainder (24%) executives and senior managers. OAM’s
subscriber base is primarily UK based.

For more information please visit href="media.harveynash.com/uk/mediacentre/press_releases_executive/women_in_the_boardroom_see_the.htm">
harveynash.com.

About Inspire:  Established in 2008 and supported by
Harvey Nash, Inspire provides a secure environment in which senior
business women from the private and public sectors can share and
exchange ideas and experiences with their peers. Each year, Inspire
hosts events for more than 1000 women members made up exclusively
of female board operators, chairs, COOs, group heads of HR and
heads of diversity.

Inspire are proud category sponsors of the First Women Awards,
taking place on June 30th 2011.

Find out more href="www.harveynash.com/inspire">www.harveynash.com/inspire

About Harvey Nash: Harvey Nash, a global
professional recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service
provider, is committed to delivering the very best talent and IT
solutions to a broad base of international clients. The Group is a
trusted advisor to some of the world’s leading business,
governments and institutions. Operating from 39 offices covering
the USA, Europe and Asia, its talented professionals pursue the
highest levels of integrity and quality in providing a unique
portfolio of services: executive search, interim management, IT and
finance recruitment and IT outsourcing.

Find out more href="www.harveynash.com/">www.harveynash.com

Media enquiries

Rob Grimsey
Group Marketing Director
+44(0)20-7333-0033
robert.grimsey@harveynash.com

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