A full profile of diversity in leadership in the WMCA area is not possible because of data gaps. Nevertheless, enough information is available to show there is a significant leadership diversity gap.
Women tend to be better represented in leadership in the public sector than the private sector in the WMCA area, particularly in the NHS, local authorities and civil service where they are a large majority of the workforce. They also make up a large majority of the workforce in education too but tend to be poorly represented in leadership positions. Female directors of large, private sector companies are a rare sight.
People with disabilities are underrepresented across the board in the public and private workforce both as a whole and in leadership positions.
The proportion of BAME people in the workforce of local public and private sector organisations is generally significantly below that in the local working age population. It tends to be lower still in leadership positions.
Information is scarcer for other groups, but some is available on people identifying as LGBT. There is a huge gap in information on people from working class backgrounds in leadership positions.
More analysis would be helpful on ‘diversity within diversity’ or ‘intersectionality’, that is, the representation of groups that have | two or more of potentially under-represented characteristics.
There is also a need for more monitoring information to be able to evaluate better the impact of leadership diversity promotion activities.
