Increasing Diversity on Boards

19th November 2009

The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of women and under-represented groups in senior positions. As part of this, the Government Equalities Office commissioned research from Cranfield School of Management on diversity on boards of directors in the public and private sector. The project sought to address two main questions:

• Why are there so few women and other under-represented groups on public and private sector boards?
• What is being done in order to increase diversity on boards?

Part 1 of the report reviews the obstacles to boardroom diversity, while Part 2 maps out current practices aimed at increasing board diversity, both in the UK and internationally.

You can read a summary of the research findings here: Increasing Diversity on Public and Private Sector Boards- Research Findings.

The full reports are available here:

• Increasing diversity on public and private sector boards: Part 1 - How diverse are boards and why?
• Increasing Diversity on Public and Private Sector Boards, Part 2 - What is being done to improve diversity on boards and how effective is this?

To order hard copies, please email: enquires@geo.gsi.gov.uk