FTSE Women Leaders Review — UK's Voluntary Board and Leadership Gender Targets

The UK's board-diversity target has run through three voluntary, business-led reviews since 2011: the Davies Review (2011–2015, 25% FTSE 100 boards), the Hampton-Alexander Review (2016–2021, 33% FTSE 350 boards and leadership teams), and the current FTSE Women Leaders Review (from 2022), which set a 40%-by-end-2025 target for FTSE 350 boards and, separately, for FTSE 350 leadership teams (executive committees plus their direct reports).
The FTSE Women Leaders Review's 2025/2026 report found women held 43% of FTSE 350 board seats at end of 2025 — exceeding the 40% target ahead of its own deadline, and up from 9.5% when the Davies Review began in 2011. 69% of FTSE 350 companies exceeded the 40% board target outright.
Leadership-team representation (executive committees and direct reports) lagged at roughly 35–36%, below the parallel 40% goal, with 64% of companies at or near it. Representation in the four most powerful roles remains starkly lower: Chair 17%, Senior Independent Director 61%, CEO only 8% (19 women CEOs across the FTSE 350), and CFO 21%.
Caveat: the headline board-seat figure conceals a persistent concentration problem — the roles carrying real executive power and the clearest pipeline to Chair (CEO, CFO) remain heavily male-dominated even as non-executive board seats near parity, and the review carries no legal enforcement mechanism, relying entirely on public reporting and peer pressure among listed companies.

Read the full analysis: https://ftsewomenleaders.com/