Three quarters of company directors are men

Only one in four UK company directors is female, according to the latest review of the UK’s 3.9 million directors by analyst firm Experian. The analysis of the company’s national business database showed that women account for just 23% of all directors in the UK, an increase of 0.25% from 2005.

Women are more likely to be in charge of small to medium-sized businesses than their male colleagues, the study showed. Although the number of women directors has increased by 10% since 2005, only 6,740 women are directors of companies employing more than 250 people compared to 53,524 men.

Women are also most likely to be involved in the education, health and social work, and hospitality and leisure sectors.

Richard Lloyd, managing director of Experian’s business information division, said: “The glass ceiling may still be in place for the UK’s female directors, but the cracks we identified in last year’s research seem to be widening.”

But female directors were found to be more involved in profitable businesses, with 58% of women working for profit-making companies, compared to 56% of men.