As the recent activity for International Women’s Day showed, developing more female leaders is now firmly on the agenda in the business world, both in the UK and internationally. Like The Fearless Girl, this is a great indication of the desire for change but I believe there remains much more to be done. Government intervention in the UK with initiatives such as the Lord Davies and the Hampton Alexander Reports, Gender Pay Reporting that came into effect in 2017 and, in financial services, the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, have forced organisations and society to focus their attention. Many UK businesses have taken action and Ireland is following suit. I think this is moving the dial but progress remains slow. It was recently reported that at the current rate of change, gender equality will not be reached until 2050!

In April, I shall be hoping to see year on year progress shown by Gender Pay Gap reporting but the early indications reported by the BBC in February are that there may be little movement. The BBC themselves are under investigation following complaints that female workers were paid less than men. But what gender pay headlines often seem to miss is that the gap in many companies is not driven by a disparity with equal pay (men and women getting the same money for doing the same job) but as a result of the comparatively few women in senior leadership positions. 

A lot of focus has been placed on improving the gender composition of company boards, first concentrating on the FTSE 100 and now turning to FTSE 350, but in my opinion this is an easier fix than genuinely building a pipeline of future women leaders who will rise to board positions in greater numbers and lift others as they rise. Building sustainable pipelines of future female leaders is more complex and will take more effort. To use the motto adopted by women's rights campaigners over a century ago, it is "deeds not words" that matter when it comes to increasing the number of women in senior positions.

I am also expecting to see this year and beyond a much greater emphasis on broader diversity in the workplace, particularly in the UK where it will be supported by government intervention and increased reporting. I think to achieve sustainable results this will again need to be led by organisations taking genuine and practical action. 

For my ABSTRACT colleagues and I, it is our burning desire to make a quantifiable difference to individuals. We will continue to focus our attention on working collaboratively with our clients to take the genuine and meaningful action needed to build their pipeline of diverse future leaders, providing their people with the practical career management skills that they need to succeed in senior roles and paving the way for more fearless girls, like my two daughters and their friends, to follow.