The FTSE Women Leaders Review, backed by the UK government, has released its latest edition, revealing increases in the representation of women in leadership roles and a number of successes to celebrate from WiHTL and Diversity in Retail member companies.

Having previously challenged FTSE 350 companies and 50 of the UK’s largest private companies to achieve 40% representation of women on boards, Executive Committees (ExCo) and leadership teams, this latest update was pivotal in assessing progress ahead of the end of 2025 target date set.

In launching the 2025 report on 25th February, Vivienne Artz, CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, featured contributions from Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sarah Jones, Minister of Industry, who each spoke about the invaluable progress being made and the ongoing importance of this initiative.

We’ve collated the overall themes, and looked at the progress being made among our WiHTL and Diversity in Retail members in the Hospitality, Travel & Leisure and Retail sectors.

Celebrating our Collaboration Community

It was brilliant to once again see so many of our members feature prominently in this year’s review, including a number of them making lists of the top 10 best performers.

FTSE 100 

Women represented on boards

Well done to both Marks and Spencer (4th place) and Kingfisher (6th place) among the FTSE 100, with 60% and 55.6% of women respectively on their boards. This achievement was particularly commendable for Kingfisher, who were also fifth on the list of companies showing most progress on this measure, up by 11.1% year-on-year.

Elsewhere, other WiHTL and Diversity in Retail members worthy of mention include Tesco with 45.5%, Sainsbury’s (44.4%), easyJet (also 44.4%), Compass Group (42.9%) and IHG (40%) for the representation of women on their boards.

Women in Leadership (combined ExCo and Direct Reports)

Marks and Spencer also excelled on the leadership levels sitting below their board, placing first on this list among FTSE 100 companies, with 54% of women occupying the ExCo and two direct report levels.

Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, is also on track here, with 40% women in its leadership positions.

FTSE 250 

Women represented on boards

Congratulations to Deliveroo and SSP, who attained joint fourth place (55.6%) for the highest representation of women in Board positions in the FTSE 250 top 10 list. 

Moreover, there was a strong supporting cast of our members to recognise for meeting or exceeding the 40% threshold. This includes Watches of Switzerland Group, Pets At Home, Greggs and WHSmith - all of whom have 50% women on their boards, as well as Carnival UK (41.7%) and C&C Group (40%).

Women in Leadership (combined ExCo and Direct Reports)

A big well done to Watches of Switzerland Group, in joint fifth place with 50% of their ExCo and two direct report level roles held by women.

Elsewhere Dunelm (45.7%), Dr. Martens (44.8%), Pets At Home (43.8%), Greggs (41.9%) and C&C Group (41.1%) all showed up well on this list too.

50 Largest Private Companies

Women represented on boards

The Co-operative Group set a high benchmark, topping the list of the 50 Largest Private Companies with the highest representation of women on their board, with a proportion of 66%, securing first place.

Two of our other retail members, A.F. Blakemore (42.9% women) and John Lewis Partnership (40% women) also demonstrated strong female representation on their boards. 

A special mention too to three of our members that have made remarkable progress over the last 12 months in increasing women representation on boards, with all ranking in the Top 10: Merlin Entertainments (3rd) surged by 10%, A.F. Blakemore (4th) increased by 9.5%, and The Co-operative Group (6th) grew by 8.3%.

Women in Leadership (combined ExCo and Direct Reports)

When looking at data for those women on the leadership levels directly below the board, John Lewis Partnership excelled, with their proportion of 56.4% of roles held by women giving them first place - well done! Retailer Matalan also made it into the Top 10, with their 44.4% placing them seventh. 

Lastly, it’s worth noting the significant gains made here by Merlin Entertainments, just like they achieved on board representation. Their fifth place in the top 10 was achieved due to a year-on-year increase of 9.3% (to 39.7%) for women occupying the leadership roles directly under the board.

Sector Successes

Reviewing rankings at a sector level shows that many of our Collaboration Community members performed very well here too. Congratulations to all those placing in their respective sector top 10s…

The Big Themes

Looking at the review findings holistically, there is much to celebrate, with highlights as follows:

• FTSE board women’s representation in board positions has moved from 9% in 2011 to 43% today (and 31% for the 50 largest private companies)

• Women in leadership (ExCo + direct report roles) is now at 35% for FTSE 350 vs 37% for the 50 largest private companies

• FTSE 350 ranks second globally among the G7 for gender diversity in leadership roles, and tops the list of comparable countries working toward improving gender balance on boards

• Over 60% of FTSE 350 companies are achieving/close to achieving the target of 40% women in leadership by the end of 2025

• Women account for 50% of the Non-Executive Director roles held across the FTSE 350 

However, there remains plenty for companies to do, with the following action points:

• Despite steady progress in increasing the proportion of women in Executive teams over the last eight years, parity is unlikely to be achieved by the end of 2025

• Growth in the number of women CEOs has been slow, but the trend on Finance Director appointments has improved over the last year, so it is important to ensure P&L leaders are being developed to deepen the CEO pipeline

• Progress has been made on Chairs, but women in the ‘Four Key Roles’ continue to be dominated by Senior Independent Directors, so this needs to be monitored to ensure it feeds into a rich Chair succession pipeline.

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