How Britain's Eight All-Male Boards Stay That Way
- All-male boards persist when there is a controlling investor
- Two companies come off naughty step after investor pressure
Photographer: Andrew Mason via Getty Images
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Among the U.K.’s 350 biggest companies, the overwhelming majority have broken the gender barriers in their boardrooms. Eight have not, and while they span industries, many share a common characteristic: majority investors who are satisfied with the status quo.
“Shareholders and advisers have not made specific recommendations to this regard to date,” said Charlie Geller, an external spokesman for logistics company Stobart Group Ltd., which has a five-member all-male board. There are women “on the shortlist,” he said, to replace John Garbutt, a non-executive director who said on Feb. 2 he was not seeking re-election.