Women hold 42% of board seats at big UK firms, but just 10 are FTSE 100 bosses

Despite progress on boards, only 21 chief executives of FTSE 350 companies are female, the report said. Photograph: Blend Images/Alamy

Women occupy more than two in five seats on the boards of the UK’s biggest listed companies but there are still “too few” in top positions with just 10 female FTSE 100 chief executives, according to a report.

The proportion of board positions held by women in the FTSE 350 rose to a record high of 42% this year, according to the government-backed annual FTSE Women Leaders Review. This is up from 24.5% in 2017 when the report was launched.