Women in business – can Northern Devon do better?

I have been looking at this very topical issue. In reviewing the statistics, the South West, including Northern Devon, does not perform as well as it could. 

Because of gender disparity in early promotions, men end up holding on average 60 per cent of manager-level positions in a typical company (women 40 per cent). 

It is also clear that there are fewer women available to promote to senior manager positions and that the number of women decreases at every subsequent level. 

Despite years of continuous effort to promote gender equality in the workplace, women remain under represented in leadership positions.  This lack of diversity not only limits organisation’s potential to thrive but also reinforces gender bias. 

This same situation applies to start-up businesses. Those seeking to be independent entrepreneurs tend to be only a very small minority of the start-up businesses in the region.

Looking in more detail at some of the latest evidence clearly illustrates the scale of this problem. Perhaps the most compelling of these is in the banking and insurance industry where the proportion of females appointed to boardroom roles, in listed financial services businesses, fell from 61 per cent in 2022 to 33 in 2023. 

Further statistics show that 30 per cent of all new appointments were of people with experience in technology, where senior women tend to lag men. This figure is up from 21 per cent in 2022. Expertise in ESG and sustainability was attributed to 15 per cent of new appointments, down from 31 per cent in 2022. 

On average, a fifth of financial services boards failed to meet their 40 per cent target for female representation as set by the Diversity Rules from the Financial Conduct Authority. 

The growing trend for a requirement for technology skills is being driven by the ongoing threats of cyber-attacks, general system breakdowns and the need to get ahead of the game in the world of artificial intelligence.  All of this suggests to me that we are only scratching the surface of a much bigger challenge for the South West.

It would also seem there is a funding gap to consider. This is probably the number one barrier for female entrepreneurs at every stage of their business career.

The gender pay gap is well known, but less known is the funding gap between female-led and male-led companies. This suggests that access to finance is also an issue to tackle. 

Clearly, the statistics do not apply to all sectors, for example, there are more female than male workers in the legal profession, higher education, social enterprises and healthcare. There are also some hugely impressive female leaders of local and national public institutions.  Being aware of this problem is one thing, solving the problem is another.  The facts, however, do help us.  Businesses with a good gender balance on average have increased profitability and productivity. 

Similarly, attracting and retaining a talented workforce is much easier where a good gender balance can be demonstrated. Some 60 per cent of companies demonstrate greater creative innovation, while 59 per cent demonstrate greater openness and transparency. And 58 per cent demonstrate an enhanced company reputation. 

It is also worth noting that leadership has no gender. The success of a leader depends mainly on an excellent combination of many characteristics, such as, background, ambitions, educational capabilities, network links, appetite for risk and, probably most importantly, the sacrifices they make regardless of their gender.

There can be no doubt that the female leaders we have in South West companies are highly effective and highly valued by their peers and by the community. 

It is clear this subject deserves to be given a good airing. We have many talented potential entrepreneurs who are raised locally, many outperform their male counterparts through the education process. 

It is therefore a huge lost opportunity if we are unable to capitalise upon this great talent and potential by failing to respect their qualities and by adopting less supportive approaches to female entrepreneurs. 

There are very many male employers in our region who would sympathise with these comments. It would be a great outcome if the Northern Devon area could be a leader in improving appointments. 

All the evidence suggests that this would help to grow the sub-regional economy.