New businesses are worse at securing female representation on their boards than the FTSE 100 companies.
Research commissioned by approvedindex.co.uk, the UK business-to-business services marketplace, revealed the number of women on the boards of UK start-up firms is depressingly low and has decreased continuously since 2010.
The report highlights that while the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies have significantly increased the percentage of female directors that they have (these now stand at 22.8% and 15.6% respectively), start-ups across the UK have a meagre national average of 8.37%. Thus the gap between the FTSE 100 companies and start-ups has quadrupled since 2010.
And while start-ups are appointing younger directors than their larger, listed peers –48 is the average age of a board member for a start-up – they continue to exclude women.
Trilby Rajna, of Approved Index, said: “It seems that despite start-up firms being heralded as the pioneers for innovation and technological advances, the inherent culture is far from progressive. Emerging entrepreneurs do not have the excuse of a history of bad cultural practices to latch on to. They should know better.”
Amy Catlow, director of publishing at Approved Index and lead generation company MVF Global, said: “As a woman on the board of a leading tech company, I feel the importance of my position as a role model for all women who are seeking to work in the industry. It’s a shame many of these new start-ups have not made a mixed board essential to their plans, as it’s crucial that the next generation of business leaders are advocates for diversity.”