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Amber Rudd: 'It makes no sense to have more men than women in the boardroom'

New role: Home Secretary Amber Rudd, second right, with Diane Cote, Marion Leslie and Mary MacLeod at the launch of the Women's Forum programme: Alex Letanti
New role: Home Secretary Amber Rudd, second right, with Diane Cote, Marion Leslie and Mary MacLeod at the launch of the Women's Forum programme: Alex Letanti

Companies were today told to increase their profitability by appointing more women to top jobs as Home Secretary Amber Rudd warned that it made “no sense” to fill boardrooms with men.

In her first public appearance since taking charge of the Government’s equalities policy, Ms Rudd said firms were more likely to outperform their rivals if they had greater diversity in their senior ranks.

She also called on businesses to close the gender pay gap by promoting more women from junior ranks, changing recruitment practices and allowing flexible work patterns.

Ms Rudd was addressing senior female executives from the City and other parts of the capital at the London Stock Exchange.

Ms Rudd addressed senior female executives from the City and other parts of the capital at the London Stock Exchange (Alex Letanti)
Ms Rudd addressed senior female executives from the City and other parts of the capital at the London Stock Exchange (Alex Letanti)

She was appointed minister for women and equalities, a post formerly held by Justine Greening, in last week’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Some critics have suggested that Ms Rudd, whose Home Office job includes overseeing counter-terrorism, policing and immigration policy, will be too busy to devote much time to championing equality.

She sought to allay those fears today, however, insisting that she was determined to fight for women’s rights.

Ms Rudd said women in the City had made major advances since the Seventies, when they were first admitted to the London Stock Exchange, only to be given nicknames such as “Stop Men” and “Super Bum”.

She said women were now in senior roles in more professions than ever and that there were no longer any all-male boards in the FTSE 100.

But she warned that a national gender pay gap of 18 per cent showed progress was still needed and that there were too few women in senior posts.

She said: “Women make up over half our university students and just under half of the working population and yet they are still significantly under-represented at board level and in senior positions.

“Having fewer women than men in leadership positions makes no sense. We know for instance that organisations with the highest levels of gender diversity in their leadership teams are 15 per cent more likely to outperform their industry rivals.”

Ms Rudd added: “As business leaders, each and every one of you has a role to play.

Encourage your companies to publish their gender pay gap data and where there is a gap — close it.”

Under legislation which came into force last year, all organisations with more than 250 employees will have to publish an audit of the pay gap between men and women. These are expected to show wide discrepancies.

Controversy over unequal pay has also been fuelled by the high-profile resignation of the BBC’s China editor Carrie Gracie, who complained she was paid far less than male colleagues in similar roles.