Introduction—The Problem of Women and Corporate Boards

Abstract

It is over half a century since the height of the women’s liberation movement, and there have been some undeniable improvements in the position of women in the workplace since this time. For example, the proportion of women in paid employment has risen from just over 55% in 1970 to 71% in 2019 (ONS, 2019), and the median gender pay gap in full-time roles decreased from nearly 30 to 8.6% between 1975 and 2018 (ONS, 2018). There are nevertheless still several glaring anomalies, particularly regarding the under-representation of women in leadership positions. Hence, more than 40 years since Kanter’s (1977) famous examination of men and women in corporations, her observation above remains accurate: women in positions of power are still the exception rather than the rule. The hard-fought struggle of the 1960s’ women’s movement to improve women’s rights is, therefore, yet to deliver on its promise of equality in the workplace.