Irish women underrepresented at board level

A survey by the Irish International Women's Forum has found that the percentage of woman directors in Ireland's biggest companies is only 5%, compared with 12% in the US.

The report - Women and Corporate Governance in Ireland - says that only 40 out of the 810 directors at 100 of these companies are women. 78% of the chief executives and chairmen interviewed did not have a policy about appointing women to their boards. 76% had no plan to

introduce such a policy.

These findings are similar to a UK report carried out in November which showed that women are still

massively underrepresented in FTSE 100 companies. The FTSE female index produced by Cranfield School of Management showed that of the 1172 people on the boards of FTSE 100 companies only 101 directors are women.