More women may now hold board positions, but has a boardroom focus helped women overall in the workplace? We get two writers to hash it out in this week’s Debate

YES: Normalising female leadership is critical to inspire those further down

Over the last 10 years the UK has made significant progress on gender representation in the boardroom; almost three quarters of FTSE 350 companies have met the government target of 40 per cent of women on boards, according to the FTSE Women Leaders Review 2025. We are one of the few countries to have achieved this without quotas. A voluntary approach, led by business leaders in the boardroom, has been key to this success.

Currently, only nine per cent of FTSE 100 CEOs are women, highlighting the opportunity for businesses to take more deliberate action in preparing and promoting female talent. Ensuring more women are placed in key succession roles will widen the pool of future CEOs, and improve gender diversity overall. The 30% Club has set ambitious new targets, encouraging organisations to work towards 50 per cent gender representation, driving long-term change at every level.

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