Women hold up half the sky, Mao Zedong said, envisaging a world of equal opportunity, where anybody of any gender could hold any job. Nothing would be barred to women, nothing deemed too important or too senior. It was, in its way, as revolutionary an idea as any in the chairman's Little Red Book.

More than half a century later, Mao's revolution is being buffeted on all sides by the march of capitalism, its economy, which Mao might have preferred to remain in secure isolation, suffering the same rigours of global recession as everybody else's.

Moreover, its impact the other way, on, for example, British boardrooms, has been minimal. Figures published this week to mark International Women's Day reveal that only 18 women hold executive board positions in FTSE 100 companies. Just three do something considered the norm for their male counterparts and hold an executive and a non-executive position — step forward Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo American and non-executive director of BP; Rona Fairhead, executive director of Pearson and non-executive director of HSBC; and Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax Group and a non-exec at Johnson Matthey.

But why are women not making an impression at board level? Do headhunters overlook women? Do nomination committees not have enough women representatives? Is it simply that men prefer to employ men? Or are women not pushing themselves forward?

Research published this week by Elisabeth Marx, a partner with Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search company, shows that the women who do make it on to FTSE 100 boards are highly educated: 48 per cent have attended Oxbridge or an Ivy League school; 68 per cent have an advanced degree such as an MBA. It is more common, according to Dr Marx, for women aged under 50 to have attended an elite university and obtained an advanced degree. In an earlier study she found that only 45 per cent of male chief executives had an advanced degree.

Dr Marx is surprised that education has such a strong influence so late in a women's career (the average age of a female director is 54 years). “You could say the study has shown that if you want to get on a board, then you had better start thinking about your education early,” she said. “The other thing is that these results shouldn't discourage anyone who doesn't have that background. You need to think about how you present your achievements and your credibility at board level.”

Susan Vinnicombe, director of the International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranfield University and author of The Female FTSE Report, said: “What we have shown time and time again is that it's not human capital that holds women back from boards — it's social capital. It's nothing to do with their degrees. Many more of the women at this level have MBAs and they have far more multiple sector experience. Overwhelmingly they have far more diverse experience than the new male directors.”

Women are also more likely to have previous board experience than men. “We have nearly 2,000 women on executive committees holding directorships in FTSE 101-to-350 companies. It is an absolute disgrace there are only 116 women directors in the FTSE 100.”

Both Dr Marx and Dr Vinnicombe agree that one way forward is for the women on non-executive director nomination committees to be given more influence. Women are on about half the nomination committees but tend to be additional members rather than taking the place of men.

Dr Vinnicombe also says that head-hunters need to do more and that women complain they are consistently overlooked by search consultants. “It is about fixing the boards and doing favours for male candidates because [search executives] have relationships with these companies in a bigger capacity.”

If search consultants are not more proactive, Dr Vinnicombe said, women will do it for themselves, using a new generation of cross-mentoring schemes, forums and networks. It's hardly Maoist in its approach, but men, you have been warned.

The ideal C.V.

Non-executive directorship nomination committees and search consultants are likely to be particularly interested in women with the following:

— A degree and advanced degree (an MBA) from an elite university either in the UK or abroad

— Executive committee involvement or participation at the executive functional or regional committee level either in full-time roles or for strategic projects

— Rare specialist knowledge that is relevant to specific industry sectors or functions

— Membership of formal networks, respected clubs, as well as external recognition or awards

Source: Route to the Top: What does it take for women to get on to FTSE100 boards? by Dr Elisabeth Marx

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