On International Women’s Day the headlines are not short of female successes and setbacks, says TERRY MURDEN
With delicious timing, four of Britain’s highest profile female leaders have hit the headlines, and they reveal both the progress that has been made and the continuing obstacles that confront women in their quest to compete at the highest level.
It seemed as if someone had deliberately engineered the news so that Debbie Crosbie, Kate Bickerstaffe Amanda Blanc and Carolyn McCall, chief executives respectively at Nationwide Building Society, Marks & Spencer, Aviva and ITV would be leading the business agenda just 24 hours before International Women’s Day.
Ms Crosbie took top billing after launching a £2.9 billion bid for Virgin Money, thereby attempting to buy the company formerly known as Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank where she worked for nearly 22 years.
She was highly regarded at CYBG and some felt that after a successful spell as interim CEO she should have got the top job. She literally made her mark at the bank as the first woman to sign a Scottish banknote.
On the bid for Virgin Money, analysts say she may have timed it wisely, just as the mortgage market is about to turn.
Aviva, fresh from entering the Lloyd’s insurance market through an acquisition, unveiled better than expected results and raised dividend guidance, marking further progress for Amanda Blanc, surely one of the country’s best leaders, irrespective of gender. In 2022 she was included in the Financial Times 25 most influential women of 2022 and in January 2023 was named The Sunday Times business person of the year.
In 2021, she was appointed by the Treasury to the role of Women in Finance Charter Champion and has worked with Bain & Company to design an industry-first blueprint with practical recommendations that organisations can use to boost representation across Financial Services. She was awarded a Damehood in the King’s New Year Honours in January.
Aside from improving its performance, Aviva is the first major insurer in the world to target becoming net zero by 2040.
As an example perhaps of the problems women continue to face, Marks & Spencer’s co-chief executive Katie Bickerstaffe is to leave the company, confirming the view that the co-CEO structure is always a difficult one to maintain as it presents the risk of a power struggle.
Whether gender preference played a part in her decision is for another day, but AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould says it appears Stuart Machin had the upper hand from the first day their co-leadership was announced in 2022.
Mould says Mr Machin was always referred to as ‘chief executive’ without any ‘co’ in his title, unlike Ms Bickerstaffe who was often attributed as ‘supporting’ Machin, which implied being a deputy.
To add insult to injury Ms Bickerstaffe was not mentioned at all in the half-year results statement last November which gave a clue that something might be afoot.
Ms Bickerstaffe, who had been CEO of high street retailer Dixons Carphone, suffered an earlier setback when she was named the chief executive of the proposed independent supply and services company being formed by Perth-based SSE and nPower. It would have made her the first CEO of a major energy company, only for the deal to collapse.
ITV is a different story, caught up in a media downturn that has yet to find its bottom. That is putting a strain on the board, led by Carolyn McCall who has survived years of ups and downs at the broadcaster.
The company has seen a further slide in advertising market but has exited its BritBox International joint venture with the BBC in what looks an increasingly smart call given how well its ITVX streaming service is performing, says Russ Mould. The latest results also show the progress which has been made with its ITV Studios business as revenue hit a new record level.
New data from AJ Bell shows there are more than twice as many female chief financial officers as female chief executives in FTSE 100 companies. Nearly a quarter (24) of the FTSE 100 has a female in charge of their finance department. However, only 10 females are CEOs of FTSE 100 companies.
Aside from representation at the top of the business scale, there continues to be a problem for women running small firms.
A survey by the women’s enterprise group AccelerateHER revealed that nearly two in five said getting access to the right resources and guidance was a challenge, while a survey for Business Gateway showed that access to funding was a factor for one in three (35%).
Terry Murden held senior positions at The Sunday Times, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and The Northern Echo and is now editor of Daily Business
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