TWO WORDS: CAITLAN JENNER
Lucy Burton
Sat, 16 March 2024
Skyscrapers in the City of London square mile
Trans women are included in a push to get more female chief executives into the FTSE 100 by next year, the head of the campaign has said.
The 25x25 initiative, which is backed by major companies including Unilever, NatWest and BP, was created in 2021 with the target of getting 25 female chief executives running bluechip companies by 2025. There are currently only ten.
Tara Cemlyn-Jones, chief executive of the non-profit organisation, confirmed that people self-identifying as women count towards that target.
Ms Cemlyn-Jones said “anyone who identifies as a woman, is a woman”, though she stressed that 25x25 were “not an authority on this subject” and would always defer to partners on “language, aims and ambitions” in this area.
She said: “Our focus is on succession and talent planning using gender broadly as an indicator. To suggest anything else would be very misleading.”
25x25’s decision to include trans women within its goal comes amid a debate into how men who self-identify as women should be included in diversity targets.
Critics argue that including trans women alongside biological women in data and targets could skew figures on things like the representation of women on boards and average salaries.
Tory MPs last month accused the financial services watchdog of putting women’s rights at risk by urging banks to collect staff data based on self-identified gender rather than biological sex.
Some 40 MPs and peers wrote to the Chancellor to argue that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was taking an “activist approach” to its diversity policies.
The FCA’s new plans to boost diversity in financial services is currently out for consultation, amid growing concerns that progress on gender diversity at a senior level is stalling.
Last month the Treasury committee said it had found a “shocking” prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying in the City, adding that progress on stamping out sexism has moved at a “snail’s pace” since a previous review into the issue in 2018.
Ms Cemlyn-Jones said she was concerned that the investors and analysts who hold big listed companies to account are “not contributing to change”.
She said: “If you listen to any woman at any analyst meeting and you look at the calibre of questions that are directed to women versus men, it’s significantly different.
“These are men from a very particular background who get comfortable with CEOs they can relate to.”
Lucy Burton
Sat, 16 March 2024
Skyscrapers in the City of London square mile
Trans women are included in a push to get more female chief executives into the FTSE 100 by next year, the head of the campaign has said.
The 25x25 initiative, which is backed by major companies including Unilever, NatWest and BP, was created in 2021 with the target of getting 25 female chief executives running bluechip companies by 2025. There are currently only ten.
Tara Cemlyn-Jones, chief executive of the non-profit organisation, confirmed that people self-identifying as women count towards that target.
Ms Cemlyn-Jones said “anyone who identifies as a woman, is a woman”, though she stressed that 25x25 were “not an authority on this subject” and would always defer to partners on “language, aims and ambitions” in this area.
She said: “Our focus is on succession and talent planning using gender broadly as an indicator. To suggest anything else would be very misleading.”
25x25’s decision to include trans women within its goal comes amid a debate into how men who self-identify as women should be included in diversity targets.
Critics argue that including trans women alongside biological women in data and targets could skew figures on things like the representation of women on boards and average salaries.
Tory MPs last month accused the financial services watchdog of putting women’s rights at risk by urging banks to collect staff data based on self-identified gender rather than biological sex.
Some 40 MPs and peers wrote to the Chancellor to argue that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was taking an “activist approach” to its diversity policies.
The FCA’s new plans to boost diversity in financial services is currently out for consultation, amid growing concerns that progress on gender diversity at a senior level is stalling.
Last month the Treasury committee said it had found a “shocking” prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying in the City, adding that progress on stamping out sexism has moved at a “snail’s pace” since a previous review into the issue in 2018.
Ms Cemlyn-Jones said she was concerned that the investors and analysts who hold big listed companies to account are “not contributing to change”.
She said: “If you listen to any woman at any analyst meeting and you look at the calibre of questions that are directed to women versus men, it’s significantly different.
“These are men from a very particular background who get comfortable with CEOs they can relate to.”
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