Theresa May speech at 'Action Beyond Words, Achieving a Gender-Balanced Board'

can I ask you to welcome the right honorable teres Z hello and I I'm sorry for interrupting you and I'm sure you'll be able to uh pick up from where you have been uh what you've been talking about when I leave because I sadly I have a very limited time to be with you this evening but it's um very good to have come in and heard those words about being a passionate Advocate um which I think hopefully has setting the scene for La everything that's being discussed tonight at this event and I'm very pleased to be able to join you albeit for a short period of time at this event tonight the government's priority is to get our economy back in shape and that means dealing with the deficit it means stimulating growth and for me giving women the opportunity to achieve their full potential must be at the heart of our approach to economic growth it's been calculated that better use of women's skills could uh be worth 15 to £ 23 billion pound to our economy each year and if women were setting up new businesses at the same rate as men there would be 150,000 more companies in the UK so quite simply I think we can no longer afford to go on missing out on the economic benefits that greater gender equality could bring and we need to not only do more to help women who want to start out in their careers their own businesses but also do more to help women who are aspire to achieve the very top and as you probably know speaking to this audience last year only 12. 5% of all footsy 100 board members were wi women and frankly that's simply not good enough and that's why organizations like the 30% Club are so important for many years I've championed the cause of hardworking talented women and indeed when I was uh chairman of the conservative party we had the option of using all women short list to increase the number of women MPS we had but we decided not to take that route we decided a different approach focusing on reaching out to talented women who hadn't thought about entering politics before encouraging them to come into politics and then working with them supporting them and mentoring them giving advice and training to help them get through the process to become MPS and the proportion of women MPS in the party has doubled as a result of that although it's still low and we've still got some work to do but my message is that achieving change in this way is hard work and progress can be slower than anyone would like and there are some quick fixes there are some shortcuts quotas of course does offer uh the root of quter offers a quick fix or a shortcut to increase female representation and of course on the specific issue of women on board some countries have chosen to go down the route of quotas but others haven't and they have still had real success and I think the Australian example of the if not why not model shows that you can achieve tremendous success without resorting to quotas and I think that change has more of an impact and is more likely to be lasting if it comes from positive action rather than positive discrimination I always used to say in politics that one of the things I thought was important was not just about increasing the numbers but getting a change so that it was natural for women to uh come into politics and to be involved in politics and it was no longer an issue and I think that change can't be achieved simply by those quick fixes because that in change only happens when women know what opportunities are available to them when they have the skills and the training to take those opportunities on when B and when crucially when businesses know the benefits of having more diverse boards and then the whole process is and when clear and transparent and that's why we are making a number of policy changes that I think really will help uh women to get on in business so our policy to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees will help shift attitudes and shift Behavior away from the traditional 9 to-5 model of work that can act as a barrier to many women and indeed to others and that also doesn't make sense for many modern businesses our policy to introduce a new system of flexible parental leave will help all working women who want to have children because for the first time it would allow both parents to choose what is right for them and their family and I think women friendly employment policies like that will make a real difference but I also want policies that will specifically help women get into the boardroom and that's why Vince cable and I commissioned Lord Davis to look at how we can increase the number of women on company boards and since his report in February uh of this year we've made good progress in implementing his recommendations in May the financial reporting Council launched a consultation on changes to the UK corporate governance code in order to help to achieve more diverse and more effective boards the head hunting industry has agreed a voluntary code on diversity

diversity and I think we are beginning to build a strong sense of ownership and action in footsy 100 companies uh We've agreed with them a plan for how company aspirational Target should be published by September and I would urge all companies and organizations to meet that September deadline of outlining their own targets for female representation on their boards and management teams by 2013 and 2015 and the latest figures suggest that there has already been an improvement in footsie 100 companies some 21% % of new board members appointed since Lord Davis's report have been women up from just 133% last year and the number of male only boards has dropped from 21 in October to 14 and I'm delighted that businesses and organizations like those represented here are taking such a lead role in making changes happen and we want business to lead change in tackling the gender pay Gap as well so we have chosen not to use the as taken by the previous government in the equality act to require companies to report on their gender pay Gap but we've been working with businesses and others in a collaborative and a Cooperative way to develop a voluntary approach to reporting and improving transparency on pay and on wider issues around women's representation in the workforce and we'll formally launch this approach later this year and I hope that many 30% club members will want to engage with us on it because I believe that giving women opportunities in business must be business L I think that's when we're going to get the best results it isn't about government simply imposing decisions you need to take the initiative and you need to drive change and grasp this agenda and our most Forward Thinking businesses are already grasping this agenda and they're doing that because they know it makes good business sense to do so inclusive and diverse boards benefit from the Fresh perspective new ideas and broad experience that successful women can bring a company that Bo that better reflects its customers is more able to understand its customers needs and there's growing evidence that companies with more women on their boards do indeed outperform their male dominated Rivals temp to say no wonder this is not equality for equality's sake it is about making your company better a diverse group of people is going to make I believe better decisions than a group of people who have all have the same experience and bring the same perspectives and the same for thinking to their decision making so as I say this isn't just about equalities for equality sake what it is about improving business it's about making your companies better and I know that people in this room know all that I know that as I've just heard there are people who are putting that into practice but together I believe you must spread the message to every company in the country more women in your top team can help your business be the best that makes sense it makes sense for women businesses and it makes sense for our economy as well thank you very much