Cameron: Failure on women 'hurting economy'

By Oliver Hotham

Britain's economic recovery is being hampered by the lack of women in boardrooms, the prime minister has said as he attends a conference of Nordic-Baltic leaders in Stockholm today.

Citing the region's world-leading position on this issue, David Cameron argued there is a positive correlation between amount of women in leading executive roles and economic growth - and that Britain's failure to improve increase numbers represented a "failure" to women.

"The drive for more women in business is not simply about equal opportunity, it's about effectiveness - it's about quality, not just equality," said the prime minister.

"The evidence is that there is a positive link between women in leadership and business performance, so if we fail to unlock the potential of women in the labour market, we're not only failing those individuals, we're failing our whole economy."

Scandinavian countries, many of which have imposed 40% laws on female representation on boards, are in stark contrast with the UK, where last year only 27% of board room positions went to women, and one in ten of the FTSE 100 firms have all-male boards.

The opposition said that Cameron's "warm words" were not sufficient:

"Government policies are holding both women and the economy back. And 32,000 women chose not to look for work last year because of the costs associated with working, including childcare.

"As long as the Government is weakening action on the gender pay gap, pushing up women's unemployment, cutting support for childcare, and exploring options for weaker maternity rights, they are making it harder not easier for women to get promoted throughout their lives."

Cameron's statements come amid pressure from within his own party, with MPs Nadine Dorries and Louise Mensch in particular putting pressure on the PM to take steps to deal with the inequality.

"It seems amazing that men who can run boardrooms, businesses and banks so effectively are unable to introduce policies of fairness and equality," said Dorries in a parliamentary debate on women in the economy.

Last year's report on the issue by Lord Davies of Abersoch recommended that a Scandinavian-style quota system should be imposed on boards if the situation does not improve by 2015.

In a separate development, BBC director generals Mark Thompson admitted the BBC had a "problem" with older women presenters yesterday, marking a significant development in an issue which has long troubled women's groups.