Parmenion's Meera Hearnden: A call to action on DE&I

'Urgency could not be more clear'

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day on 8 March is to ‘Accelerate Action’ for gender equality – a powerful call to move beyond words and push for real, lasting change.

When you look at the numbers, the urgency could not be more clear. According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity – longer than a lifetime and, quite frankly, bonkers. More action is needed to pick up the pace. We all need to take decisive steps to achieve gender parity by removing barriers from things like education and jobs for those from different backgrounds and gender. But why does it feel like progress is decelerating or, at best, stalling? Female representation on FTSE 100 boards reaches almost 4...