The pandemic has set back gender equality on company boards in the UK by as much as four years – with new research suggesting that parity between male and female members won’t be reached until 2036.

The study looked at publicly-listed companies across the UK’s main stock markets, the FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250, and found that 70% of companies across the two indexes do not have a single female executive on their main boards.

Meanwhile, men still account for nearly 85% of all executives on company main boards, with the rate of increase for women appointments slowing rapidly in 2021, according to the research, published on Wednesday by consultancy The Pipeline.

The group now predicts that gender parity on executive boards at these listed companies has been delayed by four years to 2036.

“The pandemic provided an opportunity to push forward with meaningful change, but instead we have gone backwards and the prospect for women seeking advancement to the senior echelons of FTSE 350 companies looks as desolate as ever,” The Pipeline said.

This is despite the fact that FTSE 350 companies with no women on their executive committees experienced an average loss of 17.5%, whilst those with 50% of their boards made up of women secured a profit margin on average of 21.2%.

The consultancy says that, according to its calculations, an additional £123bn in profits is on offer if companies with less than 33% women on their executive committee performed as well as those with 33% or more.

“If companies continue to actively ignore the importance of gender diversity at the top, the UK will suffer financially and struggle to bounce back quickly from the pandemic,” the company said.

The study also illustrated how one of the keys to advancing more women to senior positions was to appoint more women into CEO positions.

Women account for only 5% of CEOs in FTSE 350 companies – but where women leaders are in place, they are better at achieving a more gender-balanced executive committee, The Pipeline said.

On average, women CEOs appoint four times the number of women to these business-critical bodies than male chief executives.

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