What can we learn from the Brits on women in the boardroom?

Getting women onto boards is a process. It must include a shift in mindset and culture, a focus on developing young women as confident leaders, and--at least in Great Britain--some public shaming. The New York Times recently reported on the outcome of a British review on gender inequities on corporate boards, bringing across the pond the British government's goal of shaming corporations into diversifying their leadership.

I think there are a number of issues with respect to women in the boardroom that need to be teased out: unwillingness of boards to appoint women and reluctance of women to step up and serve. There is a fake it 'til you make it mentality that women struggle to adopt compared to men that probably prevents some women from volunteering. Organizations such as Women in the Boardroom aim to teach women the skills necessary to assume these roles. There could probably be more peer pressure from women who serve as board directors to get other women to put themselves out there. This doesn't, of course, resolve the bias against women that some organizations still possess.

As for shifting the corporate mindset, the longview, strategic plan is to educate nextgen executives on diversity. The Hampton-Alexander Review of FTSE 350 chairs and CEOs revealed a number of disheartening explanations as to why there aren't more women on their boards that speak to the bias often present in the corporate culture mindset. Also present is the inability to see one's own bias in statements such as, "my other board colleagues wouldn't want to appoint a woman on our board," which makes breaking this mindset especially difficult.

Many of the comments that Hampton-Alexander received revolve around credentials and fit, and I think there's some truth to the comment that "we need to build the pipeline from the bottom," because creating a culture where young women are groomed to sit in the boardroom will give more women the confidence and gravitas that should get them invited in. It won't happen overnight. I'm an anthropologist, so I know how long cultural shifts can take.

As we work to increase diversity in the generation of board members, perhaps public demands in the US--such as the UK's challenge to companies on the FTSE 350 to make their boards one-third women by 2020--will pressure our organizations to become more reflective of the people we serve.