Not one woman was appointed to the board of a FTSE 100 company since 1 March in an executive role, as increasing female representation on boards is mainly down to non-executive roles.

This is the finding of the latest BoardWatch survey out today from the Professional Boards Forum, which shows that in total, 44% of board appointments since 1 March to FTSE 100 boards have been women, compared to 35% of those in the UK’s 250 biggest companies. In the FTSE 100, all females have come on as non-executive directors (NEDs), in the FTSE 250, only 12% of new executive directors are women.

However, according to the Professional Boards Forum, Karen Witts will join retail giant Kingfisher as executive director in the group finance director role in October.

Claire Beasley, joint managing director at retail executive search business court & spark consulting, comments: “NED roles are no longer the domain of retired executives looking to maintain a level of professional involvement, but we are seeing people make the transition to an NED role as a positive career move.

“If this route also helps increase female representation across mainstream board appointments then clearly it’s a good thing.”

Jane Scott, UK director of The Professional Boards Forum, adds: “The increase in the number of women FTSE 100 NEDs should not be dismissed as ‘window-dressing’ or ‘box-ticking’. 

“NEDs play a vital role in corporate governance and chairmen and nominations committees take recruitment of new directors seriously, with decisions scrutinised and agreed by the company’s shareholders. The responsibilities and demands upon NEDs of public companies continue to increase and the bar is rightly high for both men and women.”

Female representation on boards increased from 12.5% in 2010 to 17.5% now for FTSE 100 companies, and from 7.8% to 11.3% across the FTSE 250.

And Beasley also tells Recruiter: “Government and EU imposed tactics such as quota systems might accelerate female board representation more quickly than natural evolution, but it undermines the brilliant women who have reached the top in their own right.”