Either Forbes has had a bit of a mind-block when it comes to researching women in business in the UK, or us Brits really need to pull our socks up when it comes to female powerhouses.
Forbes Women has just published its annual run-down of the World’s Most Powerful Women and it’s seriously lacking when it comes to Brit representation – as in, out of 100, we’ve managed two. The Queen and Anna Wintour. So an unelected monarch with no constitutional powers and someone who works and resides in America. Yeah. Not so great.
It’s at least no worse than last year, when we also managed two women – The Queen and JK Rowling (they clearly really like The Queen over at Forbes). Americans dominate the list, but a European did manage to grab the first position with Forbes naming German Chancellor Angela Merkel the most powerful woman in the world for the fourth consecutive year. Janet Yellen, the first-ever female chair of the Federal Reserve, made a debut in the number two slot.
The list features nine heads of state, 28 CEOs, 18 entrepreneurs, 13 billionaires and nine celebs. No doubt JK Rowling’s awfully upset about dropping off the list altogether, but it does beg the question – where are all the British women powerhouses?
It’s not as if we don’t have anyone to put forward – home secretary Theresa May is hardly a pushover and what about easyJet’s Carolyn McCall? But the sad truth is that Britain doesn’t seem to be a conducive environment for women to thrive. Is this our fault? Is it something that we’re doing wrong? Maybe British women just don’t have what it takes to make it to the top on a global scale?
Yeah, we’re not buying it either. The problem seems to be structural – British business and government just don’t seem capable of letting women into the major positions of power.
In FTSE 100 companies only 17.3 per cent of board members are women, and just a pitiful three firms have female chief executives. We’re about to miss all the targets of getting women into the boardrooms and there’s more women in the new Indian cabinet than there is in ours. When you look at the figures, it’s easy to jump to conclusion that the UK’s most powerful institutions are still big boys’ clubs. It makes for kind of depressing reading, doesn’t it?
We’re not sure how definitive the Forbes list actually is, but it does shine a light on how far we have to go within our own country to affect change for women on a global scale.
**Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane **
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.