Are women in the boardroom inspiring business confidence for the Brexit era?

With Brexit on the horizon, a report by the National Business Awards shows that in the midst of uncertainty, UK businesses have a lot to be positive about when it comes to equality in business and the broader outlook for 2019

• With a new report suggesting business confidence is positive and women are enjoying better representation, 2019 looks set to be a progressive year for British business
• Average UK business now has senior leadership teams that are 41% female
• Despite Brexit concerns, economists predict modest economic growth of 1.6% throughout 2019 with 29% of business decision makers predicting growth of their own
• Almost three-quarters of decision makers in business have a positive outlook for 2019

Despite constant information to the contrary, the rest of March is set to be an optimistic time across UK business as a new study of confidence shows that senior business professionals have a glowing forecast for the future and gender disparities in the workplace could be closing.

With International Women’s Day fresh in the memory (8 March), there still remains cause for further celebration as the average UK business has senior leadership teams that are 41% female. This is, of course, excellent news a year on from companies being forced to reveal their gender pay gaps for the first time (April 2018).

Fortunately, change is definitely afoot, as a further three-quarters (74%) of decision makers say their business encourages workplace diversity with women representing 47% of the entire labour force.

The report, created by the National Business Awards, also recognises four ‘Capital Cities’ for women in business across the UK, with Birmingham, Southampton, Newcastle and Glasgow distinguishing themselves as excelling in diversity, equality and female leadership.

With Brexit also on the agenda, British businesses are still feeling confident in 2019 when it comes to profit, growth and profitability. UK businesses are also set to expand their teams (47%) and when asked to rank their performances from 1-10, the average decision maker gave themselves a score of seven.