Almost 30% of recruitment firms have less than 5% female leaders at board level. An analysis of female representation within the profession by Women in Recruitment found.

Women in Recruitment’s new benchmarking report reveals that representation at board level is in single digits for many firms despite the majority of firms having more than 50% female representation at support staff level.

Commenting on the analysis, Julie Selby, Director of Women in Recruitment, said:

“Increasing female representation at board level, and throughout the company, is not only the ‘right’ thing to do, it also makes complete business sense. This creates teams which have greater diversity in thought which can allow targets to be reached with creativity and more efficiency. However, despite numerous studies showing the correlation between companies with a larger proportion of female directors and better business outcomes, figures show that many of the UK’s top firms are nowhere near the Hampton-Alexander Review’s target of a third of board-level and leadership positions to be filled by women.”

“As recruiters, we have a responsibility to establish the profession as a ‘beacon of excellence’ for gender equality and to set an example to the sectors and businesses we partner with. While there has been improvement in creating more awareness on the need for equal opportunities amongst men and women in recent years, it is clear from these results that there is still a significant amount of work left to do until true parity is achieved.”