Data: grocers lead on female boards but suppliers lag behind

Five years ago the largest grocery supplier and retail boards looked identical when it came to gender. Both had 37% female board representation and were squarely average compared with other industries.

But the jump between 2021 and 2025’s figures, in a report published last week by the FTSE Women Leaders Review, shows huge progress in retail and stagnation among suppliers.

Personal care, drug and grocery stores, as the review categorises them, has been a beacon of progress. Women now make up 45% of the boards on average at the largest companies, an eight point improvement in a relatively short period.

That means grocers are now the fourth-best sector at looking like the actual population, behind media, banks and financial services.

But food, drink and tobacco firms have not collectively moved at all, and now lag behind most other sectors, in 16th position out of the 21 the report measures.

The review asked FTSE 350 and the top 50 largest privately owned companies for data about how many women sit on the board, how many of those are on the executive committee, and the proportion of women across the executive committee and their direct reports.

It highlights those close to or which have already reached its suggested voluntary target of 40% female board representation by 2025. It warns that firms with under 25% female leadership are now “adrift from peers and with a significant shortfall to address”.

So who’s doing the best?

It depends on what you care about the most. The FTSE Women Leaders Review ranks companies by executive committee and their direct reports. That’s the broadest read on female leadership, and points to a nurtured pipeline of tomorrow’s c-suite.

“The most enduring gains will come from strengthening the pipeline of women – executive committees and their direct reports – where momentum has been steady, yet there is still more to be done,” writes Bina Mehta, chair of KPMG, which supported the report.

“A strong pipeline broadens opportunity, develops future leaders and ensures we measure what truly counts – diversity of thought and perspective.”

Marks & Spencer ranked third among all FTSE 100 companies, achieving parity with 50% female senior leadership. It tops grocery retailers, followed closely by AF Blakemore (47.8%) and Greggs (46%). Reckitt Benckiser, Tesco and Asda have the most male leadership.

For suppliers it’s Tate & Lyle with 50.5%, followed by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (50.4%) and AEP Plantations (50%), with Bakkavor, prior to its acquisition by Greencore, at the back of the pack with 26.1%

22:1

It’s a bleaker picture for board executives, where women are outnumbered by a factor of 10 to one in retail and 22 to one in grocery suppliers.

Twelve of the 19 largest food and drink suppliers have no executive women on the board, nor do six out of 13 retailers.

Asda has one woman on the board, non-executive Jo Whitfield. Only a third of its senior leadership team are women, noteworthy given Allan Leighton’s comments this week that its next chief executive will be promoted “from within” the supermarket, although this does include three out of eight executive committee members. 

Vivienne Artz, CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, told The Grocer: “While we have seen significant progress in the representation of women on boards in the personal care, drug and grocery sector with women now holding 45% of board roles, only 9% of executive board positions are occupied by women. This highlights the ongoing challenge of achieving gender balance at the most senior levels of business and in the most impactful executive roles.

“To maintain momentum and accelerate women’s representation in key executive decision-making roles, the focus must be on strengthening the pipeline of female talent. A strong pipeline broadens opportunity, nurtures talent, and supports the development of future leaders. The FTSE Women Leaders Review plays a critical role in driving engagement, transparency and accountability, and our work has shown that meaningful progress is achieved when businesses take ownership and drive the agenda.”