Campaigners have bemoaned the “achingly slow” progress made on gender equality at the top of Britain’s biggest businesses, as research showed blue-chip firms had missed key targets and there were only nine female bosses at FTSE 100 companies.

The average number of female FTSE 100 chief executives did not move last year, according to the government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review.

They were Allison Kirkby at BT, Zoë Yujnovich at National Grid, Milena Mondini de Focatiis at Admiral, Stella David at Entain, Louise Beardmore at United Utilities, Margherita Della Valle at Vodafone, Amanda Blanc at Aviva and Cindy Rose at WPP.

Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/24/progress-gender-equality-uk-biggest-firms-achingly-slow-ftse-100